UC - AFT NEWS

• UC-AFT Officer Candidate statements
• UCB Extension English Language Program to close
• Lecturers Bargaining archives
• UC Administrators' Compensation Packages
• Spring, 2004 UC-AFT Perspective (1 MB pdf)
• Roddy and Klar meet with Dynes

UC-AFT Officer Candidates' Statements

Candidate's Statement for President, UC-AFT
by Robert Samuels, UCLA

As President of UC-AFT, I would work to help defend lecturers and librarians against current budget cuts and the possible downsizing of units 17 and 18. The key to this defense of our work entails a stronger political presence in Sacramento and at our individual campuses. As a former leader at UCSB and now the President at UCLA, I have realized that we need to coordinate our efforts, so that we present a united front against the constant devaluing of our work. Part of this coordination will require better communication and organization so that we are all working on the same shared project.

While the new contracts for unit 17 and 18 have improved the foundations for improving our professional status, we still need to educate our co-workers and our general campuses about the important functions we perform in the UC system. One possible venue for increasing the awareness about what lecturers and librarians actually do could be an effort to unionized senate faculty members. We also need to share information about recent grievances to people both inside and outside of units 17 and 18. In fact, many individual departments on several different campuses still do not understand our contracts and the changing roles of our constituents.

We also need to continue our efforts to expand our membership in general and our active membership in particular. Likewise, we have to increase our revenue by organizing new units. I believe that we can help to attain these goals by sharing strategies that have worked in past membership drives. Too often our field representatives feel isolated and disconnected, and too often they are reinventing the wheel. What I would like to initiate is the production of a shared handbook for organizing and motivating our members.

As someone who has helped to negotiate the current unit 18 contract, and as a member of the UCLA course load committee, I have developed a high level of expertise concerning the plight of non-tenured faculty inside and outside of our university. I would like to use my knowledge and experience to help build stronger ties to other union organizations that could help us protect our workers.

Finally, I would like to change the culture of our union by recognizing that we are all working together on a shared project and that we must improve the ways we communicate with each other. I feel that too many of our meetings have been dominated by an unhealthy level of infighting that needs to be channeled into more productive avenues. After all, we are among the few people in our institutions willing to sacrifice our time fighting for just working conditions, and so we must respect each other and help each other realize our shared goals.

Candidate's Statement for President, UC-AFT
by Valerie Edwards, UCB

I have been a UC-AFT 1474 member since joining Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare faculty 4 years ago as a Lecturer/ Fieldwork Consultant.

I have had a broad range of union and management experience. Previous to my Berkeley tenure, I served as a community social worker practitioner for 15 years. I served the last years in senior management of a community-based organization successfully overseeing over 100 full-time staff and 8 million dollars of program services. In this position, I was a senior manager in an emerging union environment. Early in my career, thanks to my Local 1100 union membership, I was able to be entirely self-supporting while earning an undergraduate degree from CAL. My parents and extended family were union members and activists as well.

Membership organizations need leadership that communicates in a manner that is transparent to, and inclusive of, its members. As president, I will promote consistent and methodical involvement of all members. These efforts will improve our membership rate, increase our visibility and enhance our effectiveness.

In this season of contracting budgets and faculty lay-offs, it is most critical that we work to enforce our contract, by responding vigorously to grievances and by protecting members on individual as well as unit levels. Lay-offs will also reduce our membership and revenue, requiring us to make difficult budget decisions. I will focus on the Council’s ability to make judicious decisions and sustain sound financial management. I am experienced in and willing to execute these tasks as the circumstances so dictate.

In the long term, effective enforcement of the contract will create the time and resources to become a powerful partner with the University. Together we can better champion:

• recruitment and retention of the best educators
  
• securing resources necessary to support excellence in teaching
  
• create a University reflective of California’s diverse population.
  

These goals may be out of our reach now but they comprise an important vision to hold in our sights.

I believe my experience and skills set well complements the experience of those of us who have dedicated a majority of our careers to the academy. I look forward to working with all fellow members towards achieving our goals.

Candidate's Statement for Vice-President, Legislation
by Kevin Roddy, UCD

As Vice President, Legislation, for the University Council, American Federation of Teachers, I will use the contacts that I have already formed with the legislature in Sacramento, and with the California Federation of Teachers' political lobbyists to continue to press for recognition of UC employees.

In spite of failures in the Governor's recall and Proposition 56, the CFT and UC-AFT have shown tremendous leverage in Sacramento: all but one of our choices won their Assembly and Senate contests, and the legislature is for that reason as pro-education as ever.

I will extend the Political Action Committee established by my predecessor to all campuses, so that each local will have a political committee or individual who will be empowered (and sufficiently informed) to meet with state representatives, especially from that district. In the Los Angeles area, that would mean that one of us will receive enough invitations to never have to buy food again.

Candidate's Statement for Vice President, Grievances
by Alan Karras, UCB

In many respects, the strength of our Union derives from its ability to make the University live within the parameters set by the MOU. As Vice President for Grievances, I would continue the work that we have begun this year and make contract enforcement and the grievance process much more systematic and transparent.

In the first case, I would fully implement the Grievance Process that the Council has already considered, as soon as it is finalized. This means chairing regular meetings -- much more regular than those of this year -- of staff and stewards to discuss grievances on each campus and share their outcomes. This would require also implementing a grievance tracking system. I envision this being web-based, and I envision that the staff and stewards would have constant access to grievances in this way, but especially between meetings. This can, eventually, be linked to the membership database, after it has been fully implemented. It will also allow the Union to know, systematically, what is broken--and where. In this way, we can address recurring or widespread problems in reopener bargaining, or discussions with UCOP. This will allow the grievance and bargaining processes to be come much more efficient.

I also believe that the VP for Grievances should, in consultation with the ED, and as outlined in the last council meeting, lead the team that makes determinations about which grievances to elevate to arbitration. Moreover, when grievances are won, as every single one of those we have filed at Berkeley during my year as steward has been, I will publicize the decisions widely, so that our members can see exactly what it is that we do for them. This will introduce a new level of transparency.

With knowledge of the Unit 18 contract derived from the bargaining team, and my record at filing and winning grievances or settling disputes before we get to grievance, I believe that I am extremely well-qualified for this job. With my location on the Berkeley campus, I am in a very good position to consult with our ED, UCOP, and our law firm. And with good working relationships with both Labor Relations and Academic Personnel on our campus, I intend to harness the forces of civility to be our Union's strongest advocate of members' contractual rights.

Candidate's Statement for Secretary-Treasurer, UC-AFT
by Miki Goral

I am running for re-election as Secretary-Treasurer of the University Council. I was the Treasurer of UC-AFT from 1986 to 1999. For two years prior to that I was the UC-AFT Secretary. The positions were combined in 1999 and I have held the office of Secretary-Treasurer since then.

I have been a conscientious guardian of the union's finances. There are a number of legal obligations placed upon our union as a result of having fair share implemented for our exclusively represented units (librarians and lecturers) which I make sure are met. These include gathering the various information required for the mandated annual fair share audit, informing newly hired members of the bargaining unit of their rights, tracking the university's dues withholding, etc.

I feel privileged to have been able to serve our union in this capacity and hope to continue. Additionally, I have represented UC-AFT interests as a vice-president of the California Federation of Teachers, bringing the perspective of the University of California to an organization which has traditionally focused most of its attention on K-14 segments of the educational community.

The union is only as strong as the involvement of its members and I take this adage very seriously. If elected, I will continue work with the union leadership to strengthen our organization. It is vital that we encourage newer members to become involved as we plan for the union's future.


Candidate's Statement for Vice-President, Outreach
by Mike Rotkin

I am running for the position of Vice President for Organizing of the UC-AFT. I believe I am well qualified for this position. I have been the Vice President for Organizing for the past year. I have previously been the Vice President for Grievances and the Vice President for Legislation. I am currently and have been the President of my local at UCSC for about fifteen years. I served on the most recent bargaining team for Unit 18 and am a past Chief Negotiator for Unit 18. In addition, I have been a very active member of my local where I handle many of the local grievances. In addition, I am a past member of the Santa Cruz County Central Labor Council and served on the Executive Committee of that body for seven years.

At UCSC, I teach in the Community Studies Department where I am the Director of the Field Studies Program. I teach classes in Marxism, Media, Community Organizing, and Electoral Politics. I have many years of experience in labor and community organizing which I believe will be helpful to the UC-AFT in developing strategies for advancing the interests of our members.

I am also currently the Vice Mayor of the City of Santa Cruz and a past three-time mayor and have served 20 years on the City Council.

If elected, I will work hard to help our organization develop a statewide strategy for responding to threatened and occurring layoffs. I will work with the Executive Director and the Vice President for Grievances to help institutionalize our capacity as an organization to respond to and process grievances. I will work with the Executive Director and other staff, the others on the Executive Committee of the Statewide Council to further develop our organizational capacity. I will work with the Vice President for Legislation to help develop a local campus component to our Legislative work.

I believe that I have demonstrated my commitment to the UC-AFT and its members through my past work with the organization. If elected, I will do my best to make us a more effective organization through a focus on new member recruitment, leadership development, and strategic approaches to statewide struggles. I would appreciate your support.