AFT Local 212 MATC: Guiding Documents
WHO WE ARE
AFT Local 212 is the certified bargaining agent for teachers, counselors, and professional staff at the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) and the engineers and production staff of Milwaukee PBS. Our union serves as the voice for faculty, educational professionals and MPBS workers in decision-making that shapes institutional policies, and therefore, factors that affect student success. We are proud that over 80% of MATC’s full-time faculty and professional staff are members.
Our Mission
Local 212 seeks to foster an equitable society by ‘enriching, empowering and transforming’ the lives of MATC’s students, educational professionals and MPBS workers, and to meet the needs of the communities that we serve. Our union does this by serving as a passionate, effective and influential voice for MPBS engineers and production staff, MATC’s faculty, educational professionals and students, and by advocating for MPBS, MATC, public education and an equitable society.
After MATC Mission & AFT Statement 1931
VALUES
Shared Governance
Faculty and staff must be empowered to participate in strategic, academic and financial decision-making that affects our working conditions, programs and curriculum, the success of our students, the viability of the college, and its valuing by the community. Local 212 meets and confers with the MATC administration over these concerns and negotiates wages as allowed by law.
Equitable Working Conditions
Educational professionals require and deserve structures and practices that provide for and ensure equitable compensation and state-of-the- art working conditions that foster teaching excellence and student success. Local 212 fights for employee rights, shared decision-making, and academic freedom for its members and it represents our members in conflicts with management and disciplinary meetings.
Professional Excellence
Student success is dependent upon their educational experience and, therefore, on the knowledge, abilities and effectiveness of their instructors. Educators require and deserve professional growth opportunities that allow for exploring and mastering skills that not only promote effective student growth in multiple learning domains, but that also foster personal satisfaction and career validation. Local 212 leads MATC faculty professional development programs including the Educational Research & Dissemination (ER&D) program and its nationally recognized Peer Support program.
Organizational Democracy
Local 212 is a democratic, member led organization. Local 212 provides opportunities for expression and participation of members at membership meetings, at the Executive Board level, and on various committees and work teams.
Community Advocacy & Engagement
In addition to fostering student success in the classroom, MATC, as a public educational institution, has a societal obligation to enhance the life experiences of students, our members and those that live in the communities that we serve. Local 212 understands that the social and economic conditions in the communities where are students live and work have a profound impact on their ability to be academically successful. As a result, Local 212 advocates for, participates in, and often leads community-based initiatives, including but not limited to, volunteerism, service learning and community activism/ We work with community, faith-based, and labor organizations pursuing these same objectives.
Political Action
MATC is a public institution that is governed by state and federal statutes and is publicly funded. Decisions made by federal and state elected officials have a significant impact on the college, its employees and our students. As a result, Local 212 is active in the political area supporting elected officials who support MATC, career and technical education, and our students. We seek increased investments in MATC and career and technical education, support for collective bargaining rights for professional educators, and progressive legislation that meets the needs of and advances the circumstances of our students, our members, and our community.