We Did It – 70% Voted YES for a Union!! 🎉
I am thrilled to share some incredible news—our union authorization vote has been counted, and
70%
Voted YES to form a union!!
The people have spoken, Highline Exempt Staff want a union!
This is a powerful and historic moment for all of us. Since we made our campaign public on Tuesday and started signing authorization cards, the vast majority (70%) of Exempt Staff have signed authorization cards in favor of forming a union and affiliating with AFT. Of those, 92% (65% overall) were collected within the first 24 hours! This is amazing!
This victory belongs to every person who had conversations with colleagues, showed up to meetings, asked questions, listened, stayed hopeful, and believed that we could build something better together. It took courage, time, and determination, and we should all be proud of what we’ve accomplished.
By winning this election, we’ve taken a major step toward:
- Having a real voice in decisions that affect our work and our lives
- Building a workplace rooted in fairness, transparency, and respect
- Making sure that the needs of professional staff are seen, heard, and acted on
Today, we celebrate!
What’s next? (Detailed overview)
TLDR: Submitting cards, review period and committee elections.
Filing our union authorization petition with the State Labor Board
- 📩 We have teed up our petition to file at noon on Monday with the Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC), the government agency which oversees collective bargaining in the state of Washington. Along with this petition, we will include the authorization cards we collected, which PERC will count and verify their authenticity.
- 📃 Soon after this, an arbitrator from PERC will reach out to notify Highline’s management of our petition, along with the anonymized results of the vote. Highline’s HR will send employment lists and a PERC arbitrator will verify that they match our own.
- 🧐 There will be a period of review, resolving any discrepancies in the composition of the bargaining unit. If you are someone in a Director position, or are not sure if your position will be included in the bargaining unit but you want to be part of the union, please notify highlineprofessionals@gmail.com – if possible, include a copy of your job description to ensure our project organizer can make the case to PERC for your inclusion in the union.
There may be issues with signatures or information mismatches on your card, so keep an eye out for any communications from this email to make sure your card is up to date.
- ☑️ After this review period, an official card check will take place. PERC will call for a week-long period in which employees who signed cards will be notified that their authorization card counts as a vote in a union election. You will be notified that you are allowed to revoke your authorization prior to the card check, so watch for any emails from Highline and make sure to not revoke your authorization card during a card check to make sure your vote is counted YES in the final vote.
Demand to bargain for a fair contract
⏱️ Soon after we file our petition and during the review period (in about 1 week), we will call on Highline’s management to come to the table to bargain with us for a fair contract. We will hold bargaining committee elections and vote on initial demands and a contract draft.
We are very hopeful that Highline’s management will voluntarily recognize our bargaining unit and begin collective bargaining in good faith, and we will ask Highline to schedule bargaining dates for early January 2026.
✊ We want a fair contract by the end of the academic year, and we can do this if we’re organized and work together.
Bargaining
Soon, we will begin the important work of negotiating our first contract and turning this victory into meaningful improvements for everyone.
Our organizing committee has decided to make use of an open and transparent bargaining process, meaning we will request open bargaining as a ground rule for negotiations. This means anybody who is part of our union can come to the negotiations sessions, participate in group discussions with your elected bargaining committee, and weigh in on the bargaining contract proposals. This model is used in many unions, and we feel it is the best way to achieve success in bargaining and make sure everyone has a voice.
We will hold democratic elections for bargaining committee members, and thereby recruit a large, diverse, and representative group of Exempt Staff employees to serve on our elected bargaining committee. If you have some time and knowledge to devote, and want to help write contract proposals to negotiate with management, watch for communications and submit your name for nominations when nominations open!
Even if you’re not on the bargaining committee, there will be many ways to be involved and have a say in our future contract:
- Bargaining committee strategy meetings will be open to all union members, so you can observe discussions and weigh in on contract language
- you can attend open bargaining sessions and participate in group discussions
- you can be part of another committee such as Comms, Research, or Events
- or help by talking with your coworkers about bargaining.
When we say democracy in our workplace, we mean it. This is your union and your voice matters. When we come together, we can have a say in our working conditions and achieve amazing things for Highline.
Congratulations!
Thank you for your commitment, your advocacy, and your belief in each other.
This is just the beginning—and together, we’re going to build something extraordinary.
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
Attention! Highline College Professional Staff Support Gathering
Join Us!
Date: Tuesday, November 18th
Time: 5:30pm – 7:00pm
Location: Mandarin Kitchen, 22612 7th Ave S, Des Moines, WA 98198
RSVP HERE
We are encouraging all exempt staff to attend the upcoming Highline College President’s Quarterly Exempt Staff Meeting on the 18th. At this meeting we are planning on showing up in large numbers and asking tough questions. Following this meeting, we will be holding an exempt staff debrief and card signing at Mandarin Kitchen in Des Moines located at 22612 7th Ave S, Des Moines, WA 98198. By “card signing” I mean we will be officially signing onto becoming an employee union with the American Federation of Teachers. But again, this can only happen if we reach 70% support.
What’s Happening?
What’s happening with HR?
As you may have heard, President Mosby and Highline HR have hired an external consultant to perform a “comprehensive review” of positions and salaries for all Pro Staff at Highline. At the same time, HR has altered position descriptions to have fewer guarantees and moved up everyone’s annual performance reviews from Spring to Winter. To us Pro Staff who are currently the only group of employees on campus without a union, these are all very concerning developments indicating substantial restructuring which may include pay cuts, position transfers, and layoffs.
All this is happening amidst a massive $2.5 million budget cut to Highline’s state revenue, an ongoing crisis over Title II and Title III grants, and federal government shutdown. This year, many other public colleges in Washington have seen substantial layoffs to their exempt pro staff as a result of similar funding cuts, and rumors are already circulating that the statewide situation will only continue to worsen. Rather than involving employees in their decisions managing the crisis, Highline’s administration is conducting a lot of business in back-room conversations behind the scenes. For all HR and President Mosby say they care about collaboration and transparency, we still haven’t gotten clear answers on what’s happening in January and no guarantees on whether job cuts are coming as an outcome of this budget crisis and external compensation review. All of these changes have many Pro Staff worried about the future of their jobs and the sustainability of the college, and it’s increasingly clear that we don’t just need listening sessions to feel heard, we need a real seat at the table – that means collective bargaining.
What’s Next?
A majority of Pro Staff on campus have already committed to being in favor of organizing to ensure equity with other groups on campus, protect our jobs and guarantee that we are not only listened to, but we have a real, democratic say in these major staffing and salary decisions that profoundly affect our lives and the communities we serve. With these incoming budget cuts and concerning developments, it is about time to make our union vision a reality.
President Mosby has announced that he will be conducting a policy forum and “listening session” with Pro Staff on November 18th, together with the unionized workers on campus. Many of us Pro Staff will be attending this forum, and we want management to know we are watching them very closely. I hope you will come so we can all sit together and bring questions of our own to ask the President, and take careful note of how management responds to our concerns about staffing, retention, and pay equity. As of now, 60 Pro Staff have already RSVP’ed, so I hope to see you there, too.
All Call Pro Staff Community Gathering
In response to this President’s Address, we are calling on all Pro Staff (yes, ALL Pro Staff) at Highline to gather after work on November 18th at Mandarin Kitchen in Des Moines! It is so important that you and all of your Pro Staff colleagues are there, so mark your calendar and make sure to invite your coworkers to come with you!
Please RSVP now to ensure that a place and dinner is reserved for you. Family and friends are also welcome! RSVP today!
Group goals: It is almost time to form our union and start applying pressure to management to come to the table and bargain a fair contract that protects our jobs, ensures equity, fairness and safe working conditions for all Pro Staff on campus. It’s going to take all of us to come together in solidarity. We all have friends and close relationships with our coworkers, and that’s what solidarity is made of. Consider 3 people you work with or are willing to get to know, and invite them to the President’s Address and community gathering in the next week!
Remember, you are not alone. Forming this union is all about creating the community of care that Highline is all about. We’re all going through this together, and support is there every step of the way–experienced organizers can accompany you, make a plan and help with setting up these important conversations and building connections all across campus. Reply to this email if you’re wondering how you can help or how to get in touch with other Pro Staff.
It’s going to be a big lift to make this happen, and this union will only work if we all work together. Even if you haven’t before, now is the time to get involved.
Welcome!
This is the website for Highline Professional Staff
Hi-Pro: Highline Professional Staff 