UC-AFT delegates attending the AFT convention in Los Angeles July 10-14 participated in union democracy by joining floor debates, attending workshops and voting on resolutions and union officer elections. Convention attendees also participated in a protest at the Staples headquarters over the plan for Staples to offer contracted out postal services. During the convention, Staples and the USPS announced that they are withdrawing the plan!
For pictures from the protest, videos of all convention speakers, and information about the first contingent faculty caucus at an AFT convention, please read on.
UC-AFT's Unit 18 ratified the retiree health care tentative agreement with 99.5% support. The ratification vote was held July 3 - 17 using an online ballot. Please read on for a summary of the agreement and to see copies of the new language.
Union members in the Unit 18 bargaining unit will now have an opportunity to vote on the ratification of a recent tentative agreement with UC concerning retiree health. Voting instructions will be e-mailed to union members on or shortly after July 3. If it is after July 3 and you haven't received voting instructions, please contact your local's field representative.
A narrow ruling on Harris vs. Quinn spares most public sector unions, but Justice Alito's decision opens the door for future attacks against fairshare fees.
You have probably seen media coverage of the Superior Court ruling on Vergara vs. State of California. The ruling strikes down due process, time to tenure and other job protections for California's K-12 teachers as unconstitutional on the grounds that they have a disproportionate and negative impact on quality of education for low income and minority students. The ruling was immediately stayed pending appeal.
Karen LeCocq is an accomplished artist, author and art teacher with roots and tradition in feminism and Zen philosophy. She lives in the Sierra Nevada mountains and has a lovely commute down to UC Merced, where she’s been teaching art since the campus opened in 2005. Ms. LeCocq was recently elected President of UC-AFT Local 6366.
On June 2nd, UC-AFT met with the university for the third time to negotiate over our retiree healthcare re-opener. We made some progress. UC announced that if we made a deal, unit 18 members hired before July 1, 2013 would be grandfathered into the old retiree healthcare system. UC also said they would come up with a fix to the separation problems facing lecturers, which would be congruent with the fix we negotiated for the pension during our last round of bargaining.
The events of May 23 have been devastating for our campus community in Isla Vista, Goleta and Santa Barbara. UC-AFT sends our condolences to the families and friends of the victims of this senseless and heartwrenching violence. In the wake of the tragedy, Isla Vista has responded with resilience and grace. Please read on.
In early April, UC-AFT members responded to our bargaining survery covering retiree health care and pension issues. The responses to the survery were the basis of our initial proposals on May 1. (Click here to see the actual proposals.)
Karen LeCocq is an accomplished artist, author and art teacher with roots and tradition in feminism and Zen philosophy. She lives in the Sierra Nevada mountains and has a lovely commute down to UC Merced, where she’s been teaching art since the campus opened in 2005. Ms. LeCocq was recently elected President of UC-AFT Local 6366.
