Faculty at Seattle community colleges to walk out amid contract negotiations

SEATTLE — Faculty at three Seattle community colleges will walk out of classes on Thursday to protest ongoing contract negotiations.

Students may walk out as well in support of the teachers.

Members of the union representing the teachers, AFT Seattle Community Colleges Local 1789, voted to take part in a voluntary walkout across the Seattle Colleges district from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, with a rally at noon.

The district includes Seattle Central College, North Seattle College, South Seattle College and Seattle Vocational Institute.

The union cites workload, lack of many full-time positions and inequity in work and pay among faculty on campuses as among the issues that its teachers are facing.

The district has offered the teachers an 11.1 percent raise over three years for full-time faculty, and a 7.8 percent raise for part-time faculty, according to the Seattle Times.

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