Join Highline College Exempt Staff as We Make History Together!

Hey There,

This is Kirsten, I’m a Running Start Advisor and part of your exempt professional staff union organizing committee! I am reaching out because what happens next week truly matters for all of us.

👉 Tuesday, November 18

• President’s Quarterly Exempt Staff Meeting: 2:00pm-3:30pm, Building 8, Mt. Constance — Show up strong, and sit together. Let’s make our voices heard!
  
• Afterward: Exempt Staff Community Gathering Debrief + Union Authorization Card Sign-on Party Signing
  📍 Mandarin Kitchen, 22612 7th Ave S, Des Moines, 5:30pm-7:30pm
  🍜 Join Highline College exempt staff for conversation, community, and a celebration of the moment we make history together! RSVP.

IF YOU CANNOT MAKE IT TO THIS EVENT – LET US KNOW! We will work with you to find a time to sign your card, there will be volunteers available that afternoon you can check in with. 

For the past nine months since we started this campaign to come together and for a democratic say in our working conditions, we’ve been listening. Our staff survey shows what so many of us already know: exempt staff all across campus are feeling exhausted and burned out; we’re overworked, struggling to get by, and running on empty. I’ve even heard from exempt staff who are considering leaving Highline, despite wishing and hoping they could be there for the students we serve and the place we call home. We want Highline to be sustainable for us and our students, who deserve nothing but the best in stability and support. But we’re noticing a growing need for change in the direction of equity and dignity at work.

On top of that, there are escalating warning signs of a statewide budget crisis. Other colleges have already seen mass layoffs. Here at Highline, the signs are worrying. HR has hired outside consultants to review our positions and pay, and there’s a sudden push to redo evaluations just months after we finished them. With no guarantees and no seat at the table for these major decisions, many Exempt Staff are worried about the future. Unlike faculty and classified staff, we have no union protections if cuts come.

Here’s the good news: over months of surveying the vast majority of the roughly 150 Exempt Staff at Highline, we know 65% of us already support forming a union! With the year soon drawing to a close, and after months of preparation and talking with our coworkers, it’s finally time to make our democratic vision a reality. On November 18th, we will officially be making our campaign public and our Organizing Committee will be asking every Exempt Staff employee at Highline to sign a union authorization card, affirming our majority intent to unionize to the state labor board. We will have a short timeframe to give everyone the chance to sign their auth card, and a supermajority of respondents will need to vote “Yes!” in order to form our union and begin collective bargaining for a fair contract, so this can only happen if everyone who supports a better, fairer workplace shows up and stands together now.

That’s why we are so excited to get all Exempt Staff together for a community gathering and sign-on party at the Mandarin Kitchen next Tuesday the 18th! If you’re exempt staff and you work at Highline, this is the place to be! We will be coming together for a banquet to share our stories, honor our hard working colleagues, and celebrate this wonderful moment together. If you haven’t already, please take a moment to RSVP: this ensures food and a place setting can be reserved, and we can count on seeing you there to sign your union authorization card.

This is our chance to take control of our working conditions, secure real protections, and ensure Highline remains a place where people want to stay. We’ve come too far to stop now — and we need every exempt staff member present. If you still have questions, check out our website and Highline FAQ, or reach out to highlineprofessionals@gmail.com! 

Please RSVP here and make a plan to attend both the President’s meeting and the community gathering. Together, we can make this happen. Next week, we are going to win our union and make history! Can’t wait to see you there!

In solidarity,

Kirsten, on behalf of your Highline Professionals Union Organizing Committee