The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 212 has been the collective voice of the Milwaukee Area Technical College’s (MATC’s) faculty since 1931, long before public employees won the legal right to collectively bargain. In its first decade Local 212 secured tenure and a single-salary schedule based on educational attainment and length of service. Since its Depression-era origin, Local 212 has expanded its ranks by organizing the counselors, professional staff and part-time employees.

Today, Local 212 represents MATC’s 1400 faculty, counselors and professional staff. We fight for and organize our members to secure our rights as professional educators, to have an active voice in college governance and to ensure professional compensation.

We recognize that our working conditions are our students learning environment.

Local 212 is dedicated to professional development, shared decision-making, academic freedom, and tenure as the foundations of student success.

We are active in electoral politics because MATC’s success as a public institution depends on public investment.

We are active in the community because our students are active members of the community and because one of our responsibilities is to provide them with the education they need to be active and informed citizens, the cornerstone of any democratic society. Our 1931 Constitution’s Preamble states Local 212 is committed to the “construction of an equitable society.”

MATC faculty, counselors and professional staff are among the highest paid in the nation and have secured important institutional rights and protections because of Local 212’s commitment to fair play, shared- decision making, professional development, member involvement and member mobilization. All three of Local 212 ‘s bargaining units, full time faculty and counselors, part-time faculty, and professional staff, were overwhelmingly recertified in the last state recertification election (April 2016) receiving 98% or more of the votes cast.

If you are an MATC faculty, counselor or educational professional we urge you to join and become active in Local 212. See XXXXXXX to join.