UC-AFT

UC-AFT is collaborating with the graduate student union, UAW 2865, on a four-week campaign to ‘Teach the Budget’ in our classes.  We are asking lecturers, senate faculty and graduate students to commit up to 15 minutes of class time to a discussion of the state and UC budgets, how budget cuts and tuition increases are affecting current and future students, and what we can all do about it. 

Student groups and Occupy activists have called for a nationwide day of action in defense of education and social services on March 1, 2012.  Events are currently being  planned  in New York City, Boston, Seattle, and many cities throughout California. 

Local coalitions throughout the UC system are planning for events on UC campuses for March 1.   Activists at UCSC are calling for a strike and campus shut down.  Here is the basic schedule of events for the first week of March in California.

Dear UC-AFT members, 

Over the last six years, UC-AFT has successfully saved hundreds of lecturers their jobs, while also fighting the restructuring of our libraries.  In addition, the Union has bargained raises for all of our members, and we have become leaders in the fight to protect undergraduate funding for the University of California.  These difficult contractual, legal and political fights have cost the organization not only time, but also money.  We are currently, and have been for the last two years, running an annual deficit of $200,000.  In fact, if we do not do something soon, our union will run out of funds in two years.  We will then be forced to reduce services to members, by laying off staff, which, in turn, will weaken our ability to enforce our contracts, bargain new ones, and make the case for increased public funding for higher education.

This first hand report is from UC-AFT field rep., John Bruning.  Check "This Week's News" on the left side menu for more media coverage of these events.  I think this was probably the most confrontational we've seen students in a long time, maybe even more than anything down here during the 09/10 year.   Police showed up in a massive show of force, about 120 police from UCPD, Riverside PD, and Riverside County Sheriffs, who had grenade launchers and other "less-lethal" rifles, which were used on students throughout the day.

Dear UC-AFT members, 

Last year was a banner year for UC-AFT.  We successfully bargained new contracts for lecturers and librarians, and we played a key role in events that brought the defunding of higher education to the fore in California media and politics.  We have also worked with the system-wide Academic Council on a proposal to increase the use of lecturers on our campuses, and we are leading the fight against a move to high-cost, low quality online education. 

A coalition of unions (CFT, UAW, and UC-AFT) and the Courage Campaign have put together a campaign to get California millionaires to pay their fair share of taxes to support higher education and other vital public programs.  Check out our video that is going viral:

See Bob Samuels' recent article in the Huffington Post on the effectiveness of the Kim's Tax campaign.

Also, see some early news coverage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2KdL_MpNRM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKWwiRJuQuc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt6NPguLm_c

It is difficult, if not impossible, to separate instruction in particular disciplines or fields from the need to educate students broadly about the context for their learning experience. Students are often so preoccupied with the increasing difficulty of getting into required courses and other issues that result from State, UC, and campus decisions, that their ability to focus on actual course material may suffer. Although the subject matter of many courses at UC does not seem particularly related to these broader educational concerns, there is every reason for all instructors to spend some, limited time explaining to their students what is happening with instructional funding at UC.

Teach the Budget Training Calls:

• Wednesday January 25th 3:00 pm

Conference Dial-in Number: (661) 673-8600
 Participant Access Code: 354448#

This letter was distributed by a coalition based at UC Riverside.

This article was originally printed in the L.A. Times on December 15.

State lawmakers grilled University of California officials Wednesday over the controversial pepper-spraying of student protesters at UC Davis, only to be warned by those administrators — however conciliatory — that more protests are inevitable if the Legislature keeps cutting funds for higher education.