Candidate Statements Vice President for Grievances Special Election 2020

Every Spring at our statewide Council Meeting, we elect statewide officers for the next academic year. This year we are conducting a special election to fill our vacant Vice President for Grievances seat. The call for nominations and candidate statements are posted below.

Call for Nominations: Special Election for Vice President for Grievances (Term: July 11, 2020 - June 14, 2021)

For more information on the duties associated with this office, see the UC-AFT Constitution and Bylaws.

Please note that each nominee must have been a member of the local for at least one year to be eligible for nomination. Self-nomination is permitted. Nominees are expected to produce a candidate's statement, which will be posted on the UC-AFT website prior to the July 11 election. Please send all nominations to the Nominations Committee Chair, Kendra Levine at: kendra.k.levine@gmail.com by June 19, 2020. Nominations must be accepted by the nominee in writing by June 26 and candidate statements are due the same day. Elections will be held at a Council meeting via Zoom on July 11, 2020.

Katie Arosteguy
I am a continuing lecturer in the University Writing Program at UC Davis. Since 2018, I have served as a grievance steward on our campus and the communications officer for our local board. Before that, I was an Organizing Fellow for UC-AFT. I am running for VP of Grievances because I believe that defending our contract is crucial to keeping our union strong, and I am confident that my knowledge of the contract and experience in defending it will be an asset to our union. Having a lecturer in this position is crucial now while we bargain for a strong Unit 18 contract and fight our statewide workload grievance over the transition to online teaching during Covid-19.

In 2016, as a pre-six lecturer, I helped lead a grievance that ended unpaid lecturer service in the UWP and resulted in course equivalencies for lecturers to serve in important administrative positions in the program. Through this experience, I learned how empowering it is to know our contract and hold the UC accountable. In my time as a grievance steward, I have fought for lecturers across campus in Step 1 and 2 meetings with UCD Labor Relations lawyers. I helped win our union’s first re-do of an ICA (Initial Continuing Appointment) review as well as end one department’s churning practice. I helped make sure a lecturer didn’t have two quarters of medical leave count against her in her quarter count toward ICA. I have worked on grievances involving workload, merit review process, ICA, and layoff. In addition, I have served on two arbitration panels at the statewide level. This work entailed extensive preparation to participate in a discussion about whether we should take the cases to arbitration.

In my role as VP for Grievances, I’d like to focus on organizing member stewards at the different campuses so that those of us doing this important and difficult work can feel more connected and knowledgeable about grievance issues on the different campuses. Sharing information in this way can also help our union identify grievances that can be used to organize as part of bargaining escalation plans. Meeting with stewards will also be an opportunity to offer any support that campus stewards identify. Even though I am not yet well-versed in the Unit 17 and Preuss contracts, I am committed to learning them. I have fantastic librarian colleagues at UCD--former grievance stewards—who will help me learn the Unit 17 contract.

In electing me to this position, you’ll get someone who is hard-working, committed to strengthening our union, and prepared to defend our contracts.