More than a Campaign, a Movement
This was not a campaign to merely win an election; this is a movement for change. This movement will be built on four pillars:
The Four Pillars
Community - I want to better the communications in the union. I wish to explore ways to create spaces and opportunities that foster conversation between adjuncts, tenured faculty, counselors, and Career Technical Education (CTE) faculty. I want us to build relationships on campus, between campuses, and with other communities. I will foster an environment of transparency by hosting a district-wide "State of Our Union Address" at least once a semester. I will be open and honest in my communications, even if the “truth hurts.” We will foster efforts at team building by increasing a culture of inclusion and continue to expand the Contract Action Team (CAT). I will implement what will be called the "Next-Gen Project," seminars teaching members the roles and duties of union officers. Doing these things will increase the unity and solidarity of our membership. Also, we will bring the community back to the community college, making each campus a support hub to the surrounding community, supporting our students, their families, and the surrounding neighborhood. They will remember we fight for them, and in turn, they will fight for us.
Respect – We will get the respect that our noble positions deserve. We do miraculous and honorable things for our communities. I will ensure that we get the recognition we all deserve by creating press releases highlighting your extraordinary accomplishments and student success stories.
Social Justice - The root of the union movement is social justice. Concepts of equity, fairness, educational access are the core values most of us embrace and fight for. The Haymarket Rebellions, A. Philip Randolph, Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez, and Martin Luther King being in Memphis to support the Sanitation Workers Strike on the day of his assassination, all part of unions' rich social justice history. Our union will once again embrace our social justice roots. Along with Shigueru Julio Tsuha and Zach Knorr, we created the AFT1521 Social Justice Committee to mobilize faculty that want to bring the community back to community college.
Collective Bargaining & Contract Enforcement - Administration will respect us and stop using the dehumanizing term of "cutting classes." Instead, we will call it what it is: "layoffs" and "pay reductions." They will stop balancing the budget on our backs, and we will force them to take a more comprehensive examination of student enrollment and retention. We will be more aggressive and better able to increase wages, health benefits, and working conditions. I can't do these things without you. That's why this is more than a campaign; it's a movement. I need you to not just vote for me but work with me. Together, we will be a stronger and more unified union. We will take the best of our past, the knowledge and hard work or our present membership, and make an even brighter future.