California Governor Gavin Newsom during March 24, 2020 press conference.
STATE AND NATIONAL GUIDANCE/EXECUTIVE ORDERS
The Senate is set to vote today on a $2 trillion aid package to help stabilize American households and businesses. 
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I hope your semester is off to a good start.
It’s exciting that we as faculty are central to the changes in the democratic process at our colleges.
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The Guild election cycle begins Monday, January 13, 2020. See below the Election Timeline, Election Code and Declaration of Candidacy Form.
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Welcome back to the Spring 2020 semester! We expect it to be a busy one for the Guild, with our internal election, negotiations, AFT National Convention, March 3rd primaries, and the November 2020 election.
As we enter a new year and a new decade, along with its many opportunities for growth and success, we anticipate the reality of having to face toxic new threats.
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Local 1521’s new organizing director has covered a lot of ground, figuratively and literally.
In a career that has included stops in Minnesota, Colorado, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento -- and now LA again -- Chase Golding has worn many hats.
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Faculty Guild chapters are proceeding with grievances filed since June against seven District colleges and LACCD Chancellor Francisco Rodriguez. An eighth college (Mission) will also be filing a grievance.
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As the Faculty Guild begins negotiations with the LACCD on our 15th Collective Bargaining Agreement (the “heart and soul” of our union), I am honored to be part of the team, which has been assembled to represent all of the nine colleges and all of the faculty in the Guild unit.
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It wasn’t so long ago that Juan Carlos Vasquez was himself a community college student, earning an AA at Los Angeles City College before transferring to California State University, Long Beach to earn his BA in business.
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Jeff Hicks stepped up to the microphone at the Board of Trustees meeting on November 6th, the last of AFT Local 1521’s planned speakers for the night.
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Coming Through in Times of Need
For the second time in as many years, our colleges — our community colleges— served the communities in which they reside. In response to the recent Saddleridge Fire, Pierce College served the community as a refuge for large animals (a good reason to leave the Pierce Farm as open space, not as developed space, as has been proposed).
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The Guild’s new EDD Coordinator, Anthony Amey, is well-versed on the ins and outs of applying for unemployment benefits. After being laid off by Bank of America and having to leave the financial sector during the economic downturn, he found work as an office assistant at East L.A.
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Guild Conference Draws Over 400 Members
AFT 1521 set its sights toward the future at its annual Health Benefits & Financial Awareness Conference on September 27th.
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Welcome to the 2019-2020 academic year, especially to those of you who are joining our ranks as new full-time or part-time faculty members. We in the Guild know that your experience working in the LACCD will be memorable. The Guild, through our campus chapter presidents and grievance reps, stands ready to answer any questions you have about wages, hours, and working conditions.
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The terrain between Florida and California is starkly different, and not just because of the Sunshine State’s humidity.
Just ask Jacob Skelton, an ESL teacher and the new grievance rep at L.A. Mission College. Skelton was raised and educated in Florida. Having been a union advocate on both coasts, Skelton has noticed a vastly different climate since relocating to California.
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Every summer for the past three years, Guild member Camille Goulet, a faculty member at Los Angeles City College, participates in the Dilley Pro Bono Project, joining other volunteers for a one-week stint at an immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas, the largest such facility in the U.S., holding up to 2,000 people.
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Challenges and Opportunities
With the fall semester about to begin, we welcome our new tenure-track and adjunct faculty to our ranks, bringing the total to 4,500 faculty districtwide. We encourage the new faculty to attend the orientations offered by the campuses.
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At each LACCD college, faculty step up to be part of the Guild’s Contract Action Team, helping to maintain a strong union presence at that campus. At Los Angeles Pierce College, that team member is sociology professor Julio Tsuha, an AFT 1521 Executive Board delegate who just finished his fourth year as a full-time faculty member.
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Whether your focus is curricular and academic or includes broader political interests, the impact of the implementation of AB 705 can’t be overestimated. It’s not just a foot in the door leading to the privatization and corporatization of higher education -- the door has now been kicked open.
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