It’s '20-18-10' for WY Community College Employees

Fading away in Wyoming, along with low living costs, is an Old West attitude that educators can rely on administrators alone to lobby for decent raises on campus. In the 2007 legislative session, Wyoming Education Association (WEA) members from the state's seven community colleges took the bull by the horns and successfully lobbied, alongside college students and K-12 employees, for a $12.9 million campus salary appropriation in 2007-08.

Although the money is to be distributed to the seven institutions through block grants, legislators fully expect that the cash will help boost community college employees' pay to national/regional averages and the living wage, by increases of 20 percent for faculty members, 18 percent for classifieds (education support professionals), and 10 percent for academic professionals.

These numbers weren't pulled out of thin air. They're the direct result of WEA's innovative "20-18-10" campaign for professional, competitive campus pay. This drive, launched by the WEA Council for Higher Education in mid-2006, illustrates how smart salary campaign tactics can pay off, even in a state without a collective bargaining law.

WEA college activists started with intensive statewide planning meetings (funded in part through an NEA grant), ambitious salary goals, and a soup-to-nuts strategy. Among other things, the 20-18-10 campaign succeeded through:

* Solid research. Early on, WEA Council for Higher Education members tracked the history and characteristics of the funding/distribution formula used by the Wyoming Community College Commission (WCCC), which links the seven campuses. And working with WEA staff, the higher ed council collected "hard, quality" data on both comparable faculty/professional salaries and livable wages. Data sources, from which the 20-18-10 targets were derived, included the federal Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), College and University Professional Association (CUPA) pay benchmarks, and "self-sufficiency" standards used by the State of Wyoming.

* Strong arguments. WEA put these numbers to work with arguments that were picked up by college presidents, trustees, and even segments of the press. "Lawmakers," stressed a Casper Star-Tribune editorial, "need to look at what faculty and staff members are being paid at other community colleges in the region and nationally to get a clear sense of both markets where they must compete for employees…There was a time when the state's relatively low cost of living was a selling point for job candidates, but no longer." The strong salary arguments were, ultimately, impossible to counter — everything from the continued turnover of underpaid higher ed ESPs to Wyoming workforce needs that could only be met through a thriving, quality community college system.

* Member organizing. WEA replaced old-fashioned "lobby-for-me" attitudes by working to instill an ethic of collective action and build campus organizing committees. At Legislative Contact Team meetings, WEA trained members from each campus on how to lobby legislators via phone, e-mail, and personal contact. It all started to sink in. During a training session's lunch break at Central Wyoming College, the entire faculty group received a lobbying "alert" and cell-phoned WEA's salary appeal to the legislative switchboard in Cheyenne. "It was empowering!" says member Valerie Harris.

* Constant communications. WEA kept up the salary buzz through daily legislative updates to members, work with the press, and even a television spot, aired statewide. The TV ad, featuring students and faculty from Casper College and Northwest College and faculty from Laramie County Community College, stressed the need for professional pay to attract the best faculty and provide students with a quality education.

* Coalition work with students and K-12 members. Community college employees "would not have been able to pull this off on our own; everybody worked on [the 20-18-10 campaign]," points out Northwest College assistant professor Dean Bruce, higher ed representative-at large on the WEA governing board. College students helped contact legislators — even a student group returning from its field trip stopped by Cheyenne to pitch in — and K-12 members "absolutely supported" higher ed colleagues through lobbying, notes UniServ Director Kathleen Adee. "The community colleges are an integral part of public education," she adds. "K-12 people get it."

* Common-sense tactics. Press WEA leaders and staff on the essentials of an effective higher education salary drive and you'll hear all of the above and more — including the full support of governance folks, a good plan, high Association visibility on campus, one-on-one contacts, and an upbeat attitude. WEA may still have to work to implement the 20-18-10 increase on a campus-by-campus basis, but it now has the organizational base to get there — including an influx of new, enthusiastic members.

--Dave Winans, March 2007