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UC-AFT Insider October 2019

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University Council-AFT Insider
October 3, 2019

 

In this issue:

  • Action Item: Petition to Grant Paid Leave to Andrew Tonkovich, Continuing Lecturer At UCI
  • UC-AFT Faculty Bargaining Update #6… UC Management Does Not Believe In Faculty Equity
  • Student Evaluations Do Not Measure Teaching Effectiveness…UC-AFT Proposing Change
  • The Power of Affiliation with the California Federation of Teachers
     

Action Item: Petition to Grant Paid Leave to Andrew Tonkovich, Continuing Lecturer At UCI
Andrew Tonkovich has been a UC Irvine faculty member for 22 years. He has guided and mentored ~4000 students during that time and has never taken a leave of absence. Andrew just had emergency brain surgery and is experiencing complications during recovery, delaying his return to the teaching he loves. Yet UC Irvine has twice denied him the paid medical leave our union negotiated for long-term lecturers. Adding insult to injury, because he can't work this term, UC Irvine is trying to claw back Andrew's salary and the employer-paid portion of his insurance premiums from last summer. Please take action now: Sign our petition demanding that UCI grant paid leave for Andrew.

UC-AFT Faculty Bargaining Update #6…UC Management Does Not Believe In Faculty Equity
After a six-week hiatus, UC-AFT Faculty bargaining resumed with a two-day session at UC Berkeley on September 16-17. Our open bargaining sessions continue to be a source of energy and inspiration for member observers and for our bargaining team. At Berkeley, our side delivered powerful member testimonials, we hosted a presentation on student evaluations by Berkeley Prof., Philip Stark, we pressed UC on their weak proposals on Workload and Summer Sessions, and we passed new proposals on Travel, Reasonable Accommodation, No Strikes/No Lockout and Severability. Read the full update here!

Student Evaluations Do Not Measure Teaching Effectiveness…UC-AFT Proposing Change
As reported in recent higher ed news, the American Sociological Association and seventeen other professional organizations are calling on universities to heed the research and end the use of student evaluations in review and reappointment decisions. As noted above, in our bargaining session at Berkeley on September 17, UC Berkeley Professor Philip Stark presented a compelling overview of the research, which shows that student evaluations do not measure teaching effectiveness, are fraught with various forms of bias, and in some cases encourage bad pedagogy. UC-AFT will propose fundamental changes to the form, process and use of student evaluations for UC-AFT Faculty during this round of contract negotiations.
 

The Power of Affiliation with the California Federation of Teachers
CFT provides our union with significant support for membership outreach, with trainings for bargaining and leadership development, with political and legislative work and with communications. In the last several months, this support has yielded California Senate and Assembly Resolutions recognizing our members’ work throughout UC, it’s yielded dozens of new UC-AFT members and renewed contact with existing members, and it’s yielded two great articles about our union’s work and our member’s work. Check out this story about our bold positions in UC-AFT Faculty bargaining, and this wonderful profile of Aya de Leon, who is an active UC-AFT Local 1474 (UCB) member and a successful author of fiction with justice themes.

Join UC-AFT: Become a member of UC-AFT using our easy online membership form. Your membership has never been more important to the success of our organization!

Already a Member and want to help defend our union, and our work as educators? Volunteer to be a UC-AFT liaison in your department or library.

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The University Council – American Federation of Teachers is an affiliate of the California Federation of Teachers, the American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO.