UC-AFT Insider January 2009
UC‐AFT Insider
January 6, 2009
In this issue:
• A message from UC‐AFT President Bob Samuels
• Scholarship opportunities for union members
• Know your Rights‐ Pre‐Six Lecturer Requests for Reappointment
A message from UC‐AFT President Bob Samuels
As President of UC‐AFT, I want to wish you a happy and productive year. These will certainly be
challenging times. We still do not know what will happen with the state budget, and how
potential cuts will affect the University of California. I want to remind you that even if the UC
system does face additional cuts to its budget from the state, the University of California is a
very wealthy institution, and it usually finds money to spend on pet projects and administrative
salaries. In other words, we should not believe the rhetoric concerning the poverty of the
university; instead, we need to continue to work to force the university to change its priorities.
Right now, we are bargaining the librarian contract, and so far, we have not seen the university
bring much to the table. We will continue to bring evidence to the negotiations in support of our
proposals for equitable salary increases and adequate funds for professional development. At
this point we must consider the possibility of reaching impasse in negotiations, and moving into
fact finding and mediated bargaining sessions.
Later on in the year, we will begin preparing for another round of bargaining for the lecturers’
contract, and so we must start now to push the UC to make education a top priority. We also
have to be on guard against any attempt to use these economic times as an excuse to cut
corners and break our contractual agreements. If you discover any problems, please contact
your local union staff member.
Thank you for your on‐going support and involvement with UC‐AFT. We've accomplished a lot
in recent years, and look forward to working with you throughout 2009.
In solidarity,
Bob Samuels
UC‐AFT President
Scholarship opportunities for union members
The AFT and CFT, our national and state affiliates, both offer scholarships to the children of AFT
members. As a reminder, the application for CFT’s Raoul Teilhet scholarship for current high
school seniors is due this Saturday, January 10. Continuing college students must submit their
application by July 1, 2009. AFT also has scholarships for first year and continuing college
students. The application deadline is March 31, 2009. Below are links to the CFT and AFT
scholarship pages.
http://www.cft.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=18&Itemi
http://www.aft.org/aftplus/scholarships/index.htm
Know your Rights‐ Pre‐Six Lecturer Request for Re‐appointment, Article 7a.C.4.a.1.
This article applies only to lecturers teaching during their first six years in a given department.
The article stipulates that an assessment of a lecturer’s performance is required prior to a
reappointment decision for any NSF who has requested consideration for reappointment. NSF
interested in reappointment for next academic year should be sure to request reappointment in
writing with the current department chair, or other appropriate department administrator in
the coming weeks. A review of your performance will help protect you against arbitrary
appointment decisions, and establish a record of your performance to be used in your review
for continuing appointment during the sixth year. Here’s a link to article 7a of the Unit 18 MOU.
http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/employees/policies_employee_labor_relations/collective_bargai
ning_units/nonsenateinstructional_nsi/contract_articles/article07a.pdf
Membership
To become a member of UC‐AFT, please fill out the attached membership form, or download
one from our website. You can mail the completed application to the address on the bottom of
the form, or contact your local staff for assistance.
http://www.cft.org/uploads/uc/docs/memberform.pdf
The University Council – American Federation of Teachers is an affiliate of the California
Federation of Teachers, the American Federation of Teachers and the AFLCIO.