Archives for Hot Topics

Dear Adjunct Faculty AFT Members, As the spring semester comes to a close, you should be aware that you are eligible to apply for unemployment benefits, even if you have already been given an assignment for the fall (or summer).  To receive the maximum benefit, applications should be submitted immediately following the completion of your last class session or assignment for this semester. Please visit the Guild’s website, aftguild.org, for important information regarding applying for unemployment benefits and/or partcipating in our Labor Participation assistance program.  Go to www.aftguild.org, click on Adjunct Issues, and then under the General Information section select Unemployment Benefits, EDD
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This Week in Labor History May 22 Eugene V. Debs imprisoned in Woodstock, Ill., for role in Pullman strike – 1895       (The Bending Cross: A Biography of Eugene V. Debs: Eugene V. Debs was a labor activist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who captured the heart and soul of the nation’s working people. He was brilliant, sincere, compassionate and scrupulously honest. A founder of one of the nation’s first industrial unions, the American Railway Union, he went on to help launch the Industrial Workers of the World — the Wobblies. A man of firm beliefs and dedication, he
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Dear Colleagues,   Please click on the image below for the May 2017 edition of our Union Advantage Newsletter.   We hope you will enjoy it! Download version   In Unity, Jim
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May is Labor History Month! As the saying goes, we all stand on the shoulders of those who struggled before us. In recognition of Labor History Month, take some time to learn about those who truly made America great: not the Carnegies and Rockefellers, but the people who demanded fair wages and safe working conditions, access to public education and health care, civil rights and equal treatment. Read about labor history! Receive a 20% discount on all UCS labor history books May 15-19 when you enter the discount code: HISTORY at checkout! From the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend
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May 15 Pope Leo XIII issues revolutionary encyclical ‘Rerum novarum’ in defense of workers and the right to organize. Forty years later to the day, Pope Pius XI issues ‘Quadragesimo anno,’ believed by many to be even more radical than Leo XIII’s – 1891 U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of Samuel Gompers and other union leaders for supporting a boycott at the Buck Stove and Range Co. in St. Louis, where workers were striking for a 9-hour day. A lower court had forbidden the boycott and sentenced the unionists to prison for refusing to obey the judge’s anti-boycott injunction –
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Dear SDCCD Faculty AFT Guild Members,   Although our collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the District does not expire until June 30, 2018, we are going to attempt something that has never been done before–actually negotiate a new CBA prior to the expiration date of the current agreement!   However, in order to do so, we need your input and participation in this process.  As a first step, we would like to collect everyone’s ideas as to what changes you would like to see made in the successor CBA.  Please take a moment to click here and submit your suggestions.  These can be
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FYI, Governor’s May Revision budget proposal details below from Vice-Chancellor Mario Rodriguez.   Quick summary:  COLA – 1.54%  Base Allocation Increase – equivalent to a 2.91% COLA  Growth – 1.0%  Districts that grow more will likely receive additional funding as most districts are not growing currently.  Nothing on part-time faculty categoricals (although mentioned below as one of the  “top issues in play”).   Stay tuned for more info. as our advocates in the Capitol pursue budget discussions with the Governor and the legislature over the next six weeks until the final budget is signed in June.   Please let me
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Thanks to all of your calls, this bill made it out of committee, 5-2, with both Weber and Gloria voting in the affirmative!   Many thanks to all of you who made calls!   Jim   From: Jim Mahler [mailto:aftjim@mac.com] Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2017 5:07 PM Subject: Please Act Now! Stop the Corporate Takeover of our Public Schools!   ACTION ALERT   STOP THE CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS!!!   URGENT: Contact members of the Assembly Education Committee and urge them to vote YES on AB 406 – the bill that would prohibit corporations from siphoning off hundreds of millions of taxpayer
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ACTION ALERT   STOP THE CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS!!!   URGENT: Contact members of the Assembly Education Committee and urge them to vote YES on AB 406 – the bill that would prohibit corporations from siphoning off hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from students for corporate profits.   Assembly Bill 406 (McCarty) would prohibit charters from operating as, or being operated by, a for-profit corporation, a for-profit Educational Management Organization (EMO) or a for-profit Charter Management Organization (CMO).  The bill will be heard in the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday, May 10, 2017.   Please contact the key members of
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May is Labor History month.  Here’s what happened this week in labor: May 08 The constitution of the Brotherhood of the Footboard was ratified by engineers in Detroit, Mich. Later became the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers – 1863 About 200 construction workers in New York City attack a crowd of Vietnam war protesters four days after the Kent State killings. More than 70 people were injured, including four police officers. Peter Brennan, head of the New York building trades, was honored at the Nixon White House two weeks later, eventually named Secretary of Labor – 1970 Some 12,000 Steelworker-represented workers
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