UC-AFT

Putting union passion to work. . . New UC-AFT Executive Director Amy Hines brings a passion for labor to the University Council. For the past several years she worked as an organizer for the California School Employees Association and coordinated the work of 10 labor relations professionals representing 14,000 classified employees in more than 125 districts. 
Hines has worked in unions since 2003, including UAW Local 2322, SEIU Local 1000, and AFSCME Local 3299. Proudly, she said, “I am honored to have been welcomed in all nine UC-AFT locals within my first three months working here.”

LOCAL 61

42,000 free books . . . On March 1, literacy advocates and members of United Educators of San Francisco gave 42,000 new books to educators and community activists who work with low-income students. The goal: to start building home libraries and a lifetime love of reading in all students.

The “Books on Wheels” event took place when a 53-foot truck arrived at the discount sporting goods retailer Sports Basement. There, dozens of volunteers distributed books to hundreds of teachers, librarians, and social workers. The educators will, in turn, distribute books to their students. Sports Basement donated 10 percent of sales that day to First Book San Francisco.

>Learn more about the AFT-endorsed First Book program at 
firstbook.org.

LOCAL 3581

Thanks Prop. 30 . . . Certificated educators in the Rescue Union Federation of Teachers will receive an on-schedule salary increase of 5.25 percent retro to July 1, 2013, a settlement both the union and the district feel good about. 

The local, situated in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, also negotiated an early retirement program and reached agreement with the district to share the cost of release time for the local president to conduct union business, which will help the local maintain a 0.2 release time president.

LOCAL 1931

Fifty members stronger . . . About 50 non-credit and not-for-credit faculty in the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District just joined the San Diego AFT Guild, which represents faculty there and in the San Diego district.

“These faculty members have been exploited for a very long time,” explains Jim Mahler, Local 1931 president. “They weren’t given paid sick leave as is their right under the Education Code, and their salaries were always lower than part-time credit faculty. As first steps, we’ve initiated their sick leave accrual and moved non-credit faculty onto the same salary schedule as credit faculty.”


Fifty years strong

Congratulations to . . . four California local unions that will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their affiliation with the AFT this year. All locals were chartered on October 1, 1964. Their longevity demonstrates the tenacity, strength and power of local unions in the statewide and national federations.

Los Angeles College Faculty Guild, AFT Local 1521

State Center Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1533

Peralta Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1603

United Professors of Marin, AFT Local 1610

LOCAL WIRE

Linda Sneed, part-time instructor of English at Cosumnes River College, member of the Los Rios Federation of Teachers, Local 2279, CFT Vice President, and editor of the CFT Part-Timer newsletter, is the recipient of the Margaret Quan Part-Time Advocate of the Year Award from the Faculty Association of the California Community Colleges, an honor presented to an outstanding advocate whose work has benefited part-time faculty statewide.

Beth Landry, member of the Greater Santa Cruz Federation of Teachers, Local 2030, has created a resource for elementary math students, parents, and teachers. In her book 2, 4, 6, 8! Chanting Our Way Through the Multiplication Tables, Landry shares chants the students at Bay View School use to learn their multiplication facts. The book is available at kaleidoscopetoystore.com.

Robert Ovetz, an adjunct instructor at College of Marin and member of United Professors of Marin, Local 1610, recently settled a federal lawsuit with the city of Oakland to settle damages from his arrest at an Occupy Oakland march on January 28, 2012, where he had been beaten and arrested by Oakland police while observing the march. He was studying the Occupy movement for a book he is writing.

Glenn Corey, who teaches product design at Novato High School, and is a member of the Novato Federation of Teachers, Local 1986, was a recipient of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. The award comes with $25,000, and honors unsung heroes, K-12 teachers who promote innovation in the classroom.

Alisa Messer, president of AFT Local 2121 at City College of San Francisco, got a shout-out from Garrison Keillor on Prairie Home Companion when he mentioned her heroic efforts to save City College of San Francisco in a broadcast from San Francisco on January 11.