Last week we brought our fight into the open! And, the media took notice! From April 29-May 1 we organized public actions around the Open Engagement conference at the Oakland Museum of Art. These peaked on April 30 in a lively, joyous street party at the front entrance of the Oakland Museum, complete with picket signs, chants, stickers, informational leaflets, and union songs crooned by graduating senior Grace Chen on her ukulele.
Responses were great – KPFA News covered the event and interviewed bargaining team member Hugh Behm-Steinberg for their evening report. Many people at the conference stopped to talk with us, and also accessorized with our stickers as they went inside. The museum pointedly closed its front entrance once the action started, but our messages were literally taken into the conference on the lapels of supportive participants.
Most importantly, we highlighted the discrepancy in CCA’s sponsorship of a public event on power and social justice, while at the same time fighting its adjunct faculty union on living wages and job security.
Report on campus meetings with Faculty, April 26 (Oakland), April 27 (SF)
As many of you know, we organized two meetings with ranked faculty in response to questions we were receiving about the contract negotiations. We were very glad to meet with both ranked and unranked faculty (including program chairs and deans) from CCA’s various programs. The discussions were frank and collegial about the impact of the union contract. Among some of the topics covered were governance, diversity, hiring logistics, and retention challenges. Most importantly, the meetings highlighted the shared commitment of ranked and unranked faculty to CCA’s educational mission and its students. We see these meetings as an encouraging start.
Bargaining continues. We are currently working on proposals concerning job classifications, teaching contracts and appointments. We have not received counter-proposals on salaries, benefits, or other financial matters. As soon as we do negotiations can move much faster.
There is much work to do, but we are committed to negotiating a contract that will improve the working life of unranked faculty at CCA.
Your Bargaining Team
Alisa Golden
David Skolnick
Hugh Behm-Steinberg
Rob Hugel
Noga Wizansky
And Your Contract Action Team
Anita Amirrezvani
Eduardo Pineda
Elin Christopherson
Ines Lejarraga
Lauren Elder
Lauren Wooley
Michael Stevens
Paula Levine
Steve Dickison
Carol Manahan
Responses were great – KPFA News covered the event and interviewed bargaining team member Hugh Behm-Steinberg for their evening report. Many people at the conference stopped to talk with us, and also accessorized with our stickers as they went inside. The museum pointedly closed its front entrance once the action started, but our messages were literally taken into the conference on the lapels of supportive participants.
Most importantly, we highlighted the discrepancy in CCA’s sponsorship of a public event on power and social justice, while at the same time fighting its adjunct faculty union on living wages and job security.
Report on campus meetings with Faculty, April 26 (Oakland), April 27 (SF)
As many of you know, we organized two meetings with ranked faculty in response to questions we were receiving about the contract negotiations. We were very glad to meet with both ranked and unranked faculty (including program chairs and deans) from CCA’s various programs. The discussions were frank and collegial about the impact of the union contract. Among some of the topics covered were governance, diversity, hiring logistics, and retention challenges. Most importantly, the meetings highlighted the shared commitment of ranked and unranked faculty to CCA’s educational mission and its students. We see these meetings as an encouraging start.
Bargaining continues. We are currently working on proposals concerning job classifications, teaching contracts and appointments. We have not received counter-proposals on salaries, benefits, or other financial matters. As soon as we do negotiations can move much faster.
There is much work to do, but we are committed to negotiating a contract that will improve the working life of unranked faculty at CCA.
Your Bargaining Team
Alisa Golden
David Skolnick
Hugh Behm-Steinberg
Rob Hugel
Noga Wizansky
And Your Contract Action Team
Anita Amirrezvani
Eduardo Pineda
Elin Christopherson
Ines Lejarraga
Lauren Elder
Lauren Wooley
Michael Stevens
Paula Levine
Steve Dickison
Carol Manahan