The Nominations and Elections Committee is pleased to announce the following candidates for the 2025 UC-AFT Statewide Executive Board elections. Candidate statements are below.
President
Katie Rodger
Vice President for Legislation
Trevor Griffey
Vice President for Grievances
Ben Harder (Withdrawn)
Iris Ruiz
David Walter
Vice President for Organizing
Josh Brahinsky
Vice President for Unit 18
John Branstetter
Vice President for Unit 17
Kendra K. Levine
Secretary-Treasurer
Jennifer Carter
President
Katie Rodger
I am running for re-election for the UC-AFT presidency, and I ask for your vote.
This is an incredibly important time for our union, and I am committed to continue representing all of you as president of our union.
My term as president began in November 2022, just 7 days before UAW 4811 went on strike and I can honestly say that I was not prepared for how that strike would impact our members. But that steep learning curve was one that quickly taught me about not only our own contracts and working conditions, but how to be a leader in a complex system like UC.
Today, we all face even greater complexities–as well as challenges and literal threats–as we confront political attacks on our campuses, our students, and ourselves. I am ready and confident that I can lead UC-AFT in this critical moment, by both supporting our own activism and building coalition with other unions and organizations.
At the same time, Unit 18 teaching faculty are gearing up for our next contract campaign, and we will have to fight hard for the raises, workload improvements, job security, and other gains we all want. Proposed state budget cuts and threats of decreased federal grants have already put UC administrators on the defensive, and there is little doubt that we will face the rhetoric and realities of austerity. The path to winning the contract we want and deserve will be through organizing and solidarity.
It’s also critical that we grow our union’s membership, especially within Unit 18. Finding and talking with lecturers across our campuses is a challenge due to part-time and intermittent appointments; and while our most recent contract has helped bring more stability for many, the effort it takes to sign up new members continues to be substantial. But there is no greater signal to the University of California that we are a healthy and active union than new membership forms coming in at a steady rate. Personally, I have done this work and find it engaging and rewarding, and I look forward to working with our member organizers, staff, and activists on robust outreach efforts.
I am also committed to pushing our union internally to be more inclusive. This means continuing the work begun over the last few years within our own leadership structures to not only be more anti-racist, but to better represent our members also in terms of gender identity, disability, religion, and part- versus full-time employment status. I know first-hand that there are no quick fixes to issues of representation, but I will continue to address them head-on as president.
As UC-AFT president, I will continue to work for all of you. I welcome the opportunity to continue building our union via collaboration with our leaders, activists, supporters, and members.
Vice President for Legislation
Trevor Griffey
Lecturer at UC Irvine (US History) and at UCLA (Labor Studies)
I’m running to serve a second term as Vice President of Legislation for UC-AFT so that I can support our members’ work to resist state and federal budget cuts to public higher education, and support their participation in labor movement organizing against the pillaging of our public institutions by billionaires.
Our University of California system, one of the greatest if not the greatest public university system in the world, has never faced a more uncertain future. Last Summer, the Governor and state legislature announced a plan to cut the University of California’s 2025-26 budget by 8 percent. We have an opportunity to stop these cuts by lobbying the legislature this year, but UC administrators are already making cuts and engaging in austerity budgeting for next year. Even more alarming, Republicans’ plans to cut federal research funding to higher education institutions could, if the cuts are as deep as threatened, quickly wreck our schools and send the US into a recession.
If deep cuts to our public schools do happen, we have to use our labor rights to not just engage in collective bargaining but to engage in mass political action. Many people will rightly be angry once they start to feel the effects of deep cuts to public services. We should plan now to organize and facilitate that upsurge of righteous indignation at UC.
As VP of Legislation, I can help our members participate in our state and local federations, build alliances with other unions, and work to ensure that our dues are invested more in supporting workers’ collective action than subsidizing politicians’ ad buys. In my past term as UC-AFT’s VP of Legislation, I’ve worked with CFT lobbyists to regularly advocate for more UC funding, and encouraged our members to participate in lobbying in Sacramento. In 2022, I lobbied for the Inland Rising Fund to support UC Merced and Riverside expansion and the de-carbonization of UC Berkeley (both passed, but were axed in 2023). I lobbied with UAW in 2023 for AB 504 to provide a right to sympathy strike for public sector workers (vetoed by the Governor) and lobbied with AFSCME 3299 for ACA 6 to extend state labor law to the UC (killed in committee). In 2024, I helped secure CFT’s endorsement of and lobbying for labor rights for undocumented students (vetoed by the Governor), and encouraged our members to join labor movement sponsored canvasing against Trump in Nevada and Arizona and for Democrat House candidates in California. I’ve also sought to energize and democratize our labor affiliates at the state and federal level by encouraging our statewide affiliate (CFT) to invest more in organizing, and serving as a delegate to Higher Education Labor United (HELU).
If re-elected, I hope to support union and student solidarity across California public higher education. I also hope to help recruit our union’s members to serve as delegates to the American Federation of Teachers’ national convention in 2026. As rank-and-file educators and librarians, we need to follow the lead of Los Angeles and Chicago teachers in connecting our labor organizing with student and community anti-racist activism for safe, quality public schools. This seems to me like the most powerful way that we as UC employees can actively oppose Republicans’ attempt to turn the US into a kleptocracy.
Vice President for Grievances
Ben Harder (withdrawn)
Iris Ruiz
I am writing to formally announce my candidacy for re-election as Vice President for Grievances for the 2025-2027 term. Serving in this role has been an honor, and I remain committed to strengthening our union’s ability to protect the rights, job security, and fair treatment of Unit 18 lecturers and Unit 17 librarians across the UC system.
Over the past two years, I have worked diligently to build and sustain a robust Steward Training Program, ensuring that our grievance stewards are well-equipped, knowledgeable, and confident in enforcing our contract. Through this program, I have helped develop leadership within our union, providing necessary tools and training to empower stewards in representing members effectively. Additionally, I have held regular grievance meetings, offering guidance and strategic oversight to ensure our collective bargaining agreement is upheld.
My role has also involved advocating for our members at the state level, representing our bargaining unit at key state conferences to shape statewide union strategies that impact our future. I have served on dozens of arbitration panels, carefully weighing legal counsel, budget considerations, and contractual protections to make decisions that prioritize job security and fairness for our members.
Looking ahead, I intend to continue refining and expanding the grievance and steward training infrastructure, ensuring that all campuses have strong, well-prepared representatives. I will also continue advocating for systemic contract enforcement improvements, working closely with union leadership to ensure that administrators honor the contract we fought for. As challenges arise, I am prepared to fight tirelessly to defend our gains and push for further improvements in job stability, workload protections, and fair treatment for all UC-AFT members.
I am grateful for the opportunity to continue this work and would be honored to have your support for another term.
David Walter
I am honored to be nominated for VP of Grievances. A colleague of mine who herself served as VPG – and who is someone I have fought beside in many a grievance meeting – told me that my platform is: “You have a proven track record for kicking the UC’s ass.’”
With the shenanigans the administration is pulling to reduce lecturer FTE in the face of state and federal cuts (while Senior Management proliferates and fattens their own salaries) over the next two years the Grievance Office is going to have to play Center Forward. We need to be proactive in demonstrating to administrations on every campus – and to the UC Office of the President – that we are ready to fight for our members, and not back down.
My qualifications: Four years on the UC Berkeley grievance team, three as the official Steward, working day-to-day on cases with our terrific field reps. Prior to that, in the contract campaign, I served as Member-Organizer. Fighting for pre-six job stability is what got me involved in stewardship. Since then, I have served as a passionate – and compassionate – advocate to all members who come to us for help.
What I learned through our battles is that when we are smart, when we are tough, when we are persistent – and when we act in tight, loyal teams – we don’t lose. We have clawed back money owed. We have won raises for the unfairly treated. We have restored jobs lost from discrimination, and won big cash settlements for the unjustly terminated. We have vanquished workload and class-size creep. We have forced the university to recognize exploited, unrepresented teachers as members of Unit 18. We have shut down bullying and harassment, and defended political freedoms and the right to free expression.
The Grievance Team is the glue that unites all the different fronts. Grievances gain potency through organizing. Conversely we have also found that one of the best ways to organize is through grievances. The Grievance Office works to unite colleagues within departments – and across departments – and throughout sibling unions – committed to protecting our rights under the contract. We educate, empower, and foster solidarity in this volunteer-run union.
In my work here at UCB, we have faced down Provosts, Deans, Directors of APO, ELR lawyers, UCOP negotiators. We have earned the respect of the administration from top to bottom. Campus management always comes to the table with us, and they do not like to fight us. We out-research them, we out-prepare them, we out-think them. We are tenacious, and we put our hearts into our efforts.
We need to use the Statewide Office of Grievances to build continued respect for the UC-AFT from all campus administrations. And during our contract negotiations, we need to offer the Vice President and the President all the support they need to win big against UC.
So LET’S GO!
Vice President for Organizing
Josh Brahinsky
I’m honored to continue as the Vice President for Organizing at UCAFT.The next two years will be critical in the fight for the integrity of higher education, and our union is poised to take a leading role. We must ensure that we can teach without fear of retaliation, explore ideas creatively and critically with students, and be fairly compensated for our work.I feel well-prepared for this organizing challenge. Before becoming a lecturer, I worked as a union field representative for 10 years and as a member organizer for several more. I’ve led multiple grievances, campaigns, negotiations, and strikes.I feel quite good about what we’ve accomplished over the past three years with me as VPO. One of my proudest achievements is our 2021 contract for U18, where I served as the organizing lead and later took on a leadership role at UCR when CFT withdrew staff. We secured some of the strongest job security provisions for lecturers in the country. My key role was to build a credible strike threat, ensuring our numbers were strong and visible to both us and management.While I played a smaller role in the U17 campaign, I supported organizing efforts by running phone banks, identifying pressure points, and contributing to the escalation strategy towards a solid contract.Thinking more broadly, in the past three years, we’ve built a stronger organizing structure within our local. Instead of relying on staff, we developed the U18 SOC (Statewide Organizing Committee) as a functional group where member leaders and staff collaboratively create organizing plans, set goals, and execute strategies. The SOC developed a two-year plan focused on membership growth and leadership development in preparation for the U18 contract fight.In the past two years, we secured grants from CFT that allowed us to hire and train nine member organizers. We also transformed the CAT (Contract Action Team) network into a statewide effort, expanding from 100 to nearly 140 members. As part of this growth, we created a CAT training program covering 1:1 organizing, leadership development, and mentorship—an initiative that has been incredibly rewarding to build.In the next two years I aim to:Develop more leaders across all locals to strengthen our collective power.Win strong contracts for U18 and Preuss teachers that protects and improves our working conditions.Bring our union into the fight to defend democracy in the US.I’m excited to work alongside all of you in this fight.In Solidarity,Josh
Vice President for Unit 18
John Branstetter
I am running for the VP for Unit 18 position. I was elected to this position for the first time in 2022. Since then I have worked hard to help our union negotiate several side-letters. I am currently helping to organize our campaign for a new main contract when our current deal expires in 2026. I hope to be re-elected so that I can follow through on what we have built so far to win improvements in security of employment, compensation, and the way our labor is valued by the UC.
Since becoming VP for Unit 18, I have assisted table teams at the UCLA lab school and UCSD’s Preuss school with their side-letter negotiations. The lab school won significant salary increases and some improvements in teaching support. I was proud to help the school stage a ULP strike in January of 2023. I am currently working with the teachers at Preuss to win major salary increases. The teachers there make more than 20% less than the surrounding school district. We are about to declare impasse with PERB and are taking steps to become strike ready. We have already completed a strike authorization vote with 100% approval in a unit with 100% membership. I am looking forward to helping negotiate during mediation and being on the picket if a strike becomes necessary.
In preparation for our 2026 contract negotiations, I have worked with members of the e-board to design and build a campaign structure that will give us the power to win big. I believe in a big, open, and inclusive bargaining process, and so we are currently recruiting a large table team as part of a large contract campaign committee (CCC), which will steer our union through the struggle ahead. The CCC is designed to build on the strengths of our last contract campaign while addressing some of the shortfalls in communication, transparency, and coordination that we experienced before. As the chief negotiator, I plan to work with the table team, chapter chairs, and all other members of the CCC to ensure that our new contract responds to the concerns of all of our diverse members across the state.
Vice President for Unit 17
Kendra K. Levine
I accept the nomination for Unit 17 Vice President of UC-AFT and I’m committed to fight for librarians and our continued role in supporting the teaching and research mission of UC. Especially in this critical moment, with the looming budget crisis and continued attacks on academic freedom, we need to hold on to our collective values and fight for a university that fulfills its teaching and research mission with rigor.
Leading our contract negotiating team last year was one of the hardest and most rewarding acts of service in my career. Nearly every U17 librarian across the state and so many of our U18 colleagues participated in our campaign, which helped us win a strong contract with gains in salary, professional development funding, and affirmed the role of UC librarians as academic workers. I hope to continue in this role to finish this current fight with the revisions to APM 360-4 and make sure that it reflects the works we actually do as academics within the University and aligns with our professional values and ethics. Libraries and librarians hold an important role within UC, but it’s often misunderstood and overlooked. UC-AFT is an important venue to celebrate our work and the importance of UC libraries, and to fight for the recognition and respect we deserve.
I also think it’s crucial for UC-AFT to be active in the fight for higher education that is accessible and welcoming for all, and also the labor movement in general. I hope to continue my work to help our members connect to these movements, so that we can ensure UC has the resources and independence to be the best public university system. I am committed to continue this fight for the next two years.
Secretary-Treasurer
Jennifer Carter
I am honored to run for Secretary-Treasurer of UCAFT. I’m excited to serve in this role and committed to ensuring all processes are streamlined and organized in order for our union to continue to run smoothly. While new to the UCAFT Board, I bring past experience serving two years as Secretary of a local parent-teacher school board, eight years as Treasurer of a community group, and two years as a financial coordinator of event planning with a local nonprofit.
I have strong organizational and adaptable skills and am confident that I can carry out the significant duties of the position. I welcome the opportunity to give back and use my experiences to serve our union. I will do my best to serve in the grand tradition of who held the position before me.
I believe in the power of the people and the strength of our union and having a strong Board team to work behind the scenes in everyone’s best interest. I’d be honored to have your support to take on this very important role.
