Issue # 32: March 14, 2023
Update from the President
Frankie Cocanour (2022-2024 Term)
Bargaining:
It’s official, we start bargaining our contract on Tuesday, March 21st from 11:00 am to noon. These meetings will be hybrid meetings so that you can attend in person if you are available or watch on Zoom. Remember that if you attend bargaining sessions it has to be your lunch break or use vacation or personal time We will send out an update with the location and the Zoom invite.
We are getting closer to the first bargaining session. We have a strong team that will be at the table. Every member has strengths that compliments the other members on the team. The past few months we have been meeting and going over our contract. The survey that hopefully everyone filled out is important to our team. We are going to be using the information from the questions we asked and the comments that you left for work to get a stronger contract. If you have not filled out the survey it is not too late. Your voice matters to us.
Other Union News:
On Wednesday March 8th Democrats in the Michigan House of Representatives passed a bill repealing the right-to-work law that was enacted in their state in 2021. The bill needs to be passed by their senate, then it can go to their governor Gretchen Whitmer to sign.
Michigan House Passes a Bill Repealing The Right-to-Work Law
The right to work laws were passed to weaken unions. The weaker a union is the less pay and benefits an employer needs to pay. This means that for large corporations such a Starbucks they can pay their employees the least amount of money they can get away with while the executive officers and the shareholders take home more money to buy bigger homes, yachts, private jets, designer clothes, travel, islands, basically everything we dream of winning the lottery so we might have a taste of that life.
How does this affect us at our college? Well, we fall under the Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, this is where Mark Janus won the right to be represented by a union, get all of the benefits of the union, but not pay dues. He essentially lets his coworkers pay for his representation for him. We will need Janus to be overturned or some legislation to be passed nationally to work around Janus, but every time a state is able to repeal the right to work laws this gets us one step closer to overturning the Janus. decision.
“People say ‘why unionize a bad job, just get a better job’ I am getting a better job. When you organize and win you don’t have to go somewhere else to do it.” ~ More Perfect Union.
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Announcements and Reminders
DON’T FORGET TO WEAR RED ON WEDNESDAYS!
Tuesday, March 14, 2023:
We’ll be in front of J&J Java Coffee Roasters from 11am to 2pm. Get some coffee and various breakfast treats and sign up to be an LCCEF Member!
Wednesday, March 15, 2023:
We will be going out to departments looking for members wearing red and talking to potential members. Join us! We have a lot of ground to cover on our beautiful campus. We want to see you and your department. Contact Colin!
Thursday, March 16, 2023:
General Membership Meeting! At 12:05 and 5:15. We will be welcoming new members, talking about membership, and what to expect when attending Bargaining Meetings as a viewer.
GMM Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88913139666
Friday, March 17, 2023:
Time to celebrate the hard work accomplished this week! If you are shopping for St. Patrick’s Day, look for Union-Made brands!
Bargaining 2023
LCCEF BARGAINING TEAM BEGINS BARGAINING WITH THE COLLEGE ON TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023 AT 11:00AM – 12:00PM.
See Colin’s the VP of Organizing update below for more information.
Bargaining Survey Bargaining Survey 2/28/2023
Newsletter Feedback
We want to hear from you! Please take a few minutes to give us your feedback on our Weekly Newsletter. Newsletter Feedback Survey Goggle Form
Vice President of Labor Relations
Buck Potter (2022-2023 Term)
I am out of the office this week. If you need assistance with a labor relations issue please contact our VP of Organizing Colin Vurek or our President Frankie Cocanour.
Vice President of Organizing
Colin Vurek (2023-2024 Term)
Greeting Members,
Tuesday, March 14, 2023 we’ll be in front of J&J Java Coffee Roasters from 11am to 2pm. Get some coffee and various breakfast treats and sign up to be an LCCEF Member!
If you are not a member of the LCCEF or have folks in your department who have not signed up yet, send them my way! We are aiming to increase our Membership my 10%! We can do it!
I’ll have the newest version of our T-shirts and other LCCEF SWAG to give away!
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BARGAINING IS FINALLY HERE!
Our first bargaining session is Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at 11:00am- 12:00pm! Members are welcomed to observe via Zoom with your microphones and cameras OFF, please. I will be running a Google Chat to allow observers to chat with me and I can pass ideas to the team at the table. I will actually be at the table also but bouncing into the chat to answer questions you may have. Email me your private email address to: colinlccef@gmail.com so I can add you to the chat. You will find the link for the bargaining meeting below:
Join Zoom Meeting https://lanecc.zoom.us/j/96183623044
Meeting ID: 961 8362 3044
Dial by your location
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 444 9171 US
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
Feel free to use the image below as your Zoom background.
DON’T FORGET TO WEAR RED ON WEDNESDAYS!
UNION STRONG!
Grievance Officer
Dawn Rupp (2023-2024 Term)
Not much to report from a grievance point of view. We have moved labor relations meetings to every third Friday starting March 10.
In other news:
Plant Bundle Dyeing Workshop – March 14th
The LCC Learning Garden will be hosting a plant bundle dyeing workshop on March 14th from 1-2pm!
Participants will explore the world of plant dyeing and make a t-shirt they will get to take home.
The cost is $5 for students and $10 for staff and community members.
Please rsvp via email by March 9th to salibaa@lanecc.edu.
Hope to see you there!
Submitted by Arissa Saliba
Spring Forum! – March 22nd
You are invited to attend the LCC Spring Forum Business Meeting on Wednesday March 22 at 9:30am in Building 19/Room 226. This is a Hybrid event so you may join us in person or on Zoom.
This forum will provide an opportunity for members of the administration to share important information on how community colleges are funded, including enrollment metrics and the legislative process. Speakers include Dr. Stephanie Bulger- President of Lane Community College, Dr. Patrick Blaine- AVP of Academic Affairs and Institutional Effectiveness, Mr. Brett Rowlett- Executive Director of External Affairs, and Dr. Shelley Tinkham- Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dawn Whiting – Interim Vice President of Student Affairs, Ms. Marlene Rocha- Associate Vice President of Finance and Accounting.
Submitted by Priyanka Srinivasa
What Should You Do and Not Do During a Lockdown?
If a lockdown is initiated and you are in a building:
*Do not leave a building during a lockdown.
*Move to a securable area (office or classroom) and lock the doors.
*Close the window coverings/get away from the window.
*Turn off the lights.
*Get low on the floor.
*Silence your cell phones.
*Remain in your secured area until further direction or an all-clear is given.
If you are unable to enter a building because of a lockdown:
*Assume that classes will be suspended until the lockdown ends.
*Leave the area and seek safe shelter off campus.
*Return to campus after the all-clear is given (notification will be sent via LaneAlert).
What not to do:
*Do not leave your room to try to “see what’s happening.”
*Do not confront or try to apprehend the intruder.
*Do not assume that someone else has called Public Safety and/or 911.
Submitted by Lisa M. Rupp
Quote(s) for the week:
Do what you feel in your heart to be right-
for you’ll be criticized anyway.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt
“When someone tells you that there is no agenda, you can be certain there is nothing but an agenda.” – Craig D. Lounsbrough
Treasurer
Linda Reling (2022-2023 Term)
Happy Pi Day! I hope to see you at next week’s bargaining.
Records Officer
Tracy Weimer (2022-2024 Term)
Writing a Weekly Peek Inside the Contract for the membership is apparently unacceptable.
Surprise General Membership Meeting via Zoom this week on Thursday March 16, 2023 at noon and five. If you are like me, you had no idea it was coming up. Add this LCCEF Union Calendar to your queue so that you are notified of any future regularly scheduled LCCEF gatherings.
There is a new moon at 10:23am next week on the equinox, a good time to start something new.
Communications Officer
Marleena Pearson (2022-2023 Term)
Are you a full member? If not, do you have any questions we can answer? We want to hear your voice when Bargaining, and voting is an important right for members.
Membership Week 3/13-3/17/2023.
Membership Week GMM 3/16/2023 12pm and 5 pm.
Bargaining Meeting 3/21/2023 11 am.
Membership Officer
Skye Nguyen (2022-2023 Term)
We have moved our membership forms and other forms online through softdocs! This makes it that much easier to sign up as a member with no hassle of printing or working with a PDF form filler. Check out and share the form that is now posted on LCCEF’s website!
If there are any questions about membership or someone has interest in joining, they can reach out to me (membership@lccef.org) or fill out the online membership form. 🙂
Resources you may need!
- How to update your physical address on Expresslane.
- Complete this form for a Membership card or a new membership card! If you are a new member, one may have already been requested, contact the LCCEF Membership Officer for info.
- Submit an Important Life Event for you or another member may have coming up.
Chief Labor Delegate
Mark Jordan (2022-2023 Term)
COPE Officer
Fiora Starchild-Wolf (2022-2023 Term)
We’ve completed our process of choosing our endorsements for LCC Board of Education seats in the May 16 Special Election!
Here is the current list of candidates filed for open seats on the Lane County Elections site: Lane County Elections May 16th Special Election Filing
Endorsements are important, as our interaction with them helps a candidate know and understand our priorities as a union, as well as the role of classified professionals in the mission of the College.
In the case of Board elections, we are literally offering support for those who will make the ultimate decisions on policy, contracts, and direction that our place of employment will make.
LCCEF is heading into bargaining of our complete contract. Lane faces significant funding issues (I know–that’s been the case since whenever any of us was first hired, for me, that was 1990), with a budget that is tighter than ever, due to the after effects of the pandemic. Lane WILL come out of this, we need to have a Board that is willing to listen to us, understands the issues we face, and is supportive of fairness in wages, and creative ways to improve Lane’s financial situation without the devastation of layoffs.
With that in mind, we conducted a process similar to what we’ve done over the past three years. If a candidate sought endorsement from us, I sent them a questionnaire, invited them to meet with us, and considered other information we knew about them. In contested races, I also reached out to their opponents and, if they were interested, we did the same process with them. Not all opponents are interested, which tells us something immediately.
LCCEF Endorsement Decisions:
Zone 1- Denise Diamond– Denise is currently unopposed. She has been an educator for over 40 years, in multiple settings-public, private, and international–at elementary, high school, and community college settings. She was president of her faculty union at the community college from which she retired in California. She said that all the unions at her college were in close alignment, working together. She has recently, post-retirement, moved to Florence, and wants to give back by serving on LCC’s Board. I have met her in person and spoken with her on the phone multiple times, now, and she is approachable, articulate and positive about LCC and our work group’s role in making Lane successful.
Zone 2- Zach Mulholland- Zach is running against Rich Cunningham and Nick Skelton, neither of whom responded when I reached out to them. What we do know is that both of Zach’s opponents are very well funded, conservative, and not necessarily oriented towards the shared governance of a union-based organization. Zach completed his questionnaire and was excited to meet with our committee. He has been very active in community organizing with a number of climate policy organizations locally, often taking leadership roles. He got his GED and his AAOT at COCC, and then went on to graduate from UO so he is familiar with Oregon community colleges and the transfer process many of our students go through. He is very pro-labor, and has served on the City of Eugene Sustainability Commission, as Vice-Chair and then Chair in the last two years. He is currently on the Bethel Community Neighborhood Association Board and the Eugene Budget Committee. Zach is very positive towards shared governance, and will be supportive of the needs and input of our members.
.Zone 6- Bob Baldwin Bob is running against Kevin Alltucker, of the Alltucker family that owns Eugene Sand and Gravel. We met with both candidates and received their questionnaires. Alltucker went to Lane, transferred to OSU, and became a chemical engineer. He later changed paths to go into the field of education. While Alltucker was a grad student at UO and then became faculty, while he was well-liked by his students, he turned down multiple invitations to join GTFF or the UO Faculty union, and would not discuss his reasons with us. While Alltucker is clearly very dedicated to education, he does not have a history of working with unions. He announced his candidacy for the Board on Lane’s campus, but made no effort to let LCCEF leadership know he was doing so that we are aware of. As Lane goes through a very difficult financial situation, and LCCEF goes into bargaining, a majority of us felt that Bob Baldwin’s dedication to labor and knowledge of Lane’s processes and financial situation wins out. Bob received his GED and his Associates degree at Lane, transferred to UO for a Business degree, and then returned to Lane as an employee. Bob has dedicated years of his life to working not only for our union, but also the Lane County Labor Council. As LCCEF President of 15 years, Bob Baldwin knows our contract, and has more knowledge of Lane’s financial history than anyone currently sitting on the Board or in Lane’s Administration. Bob is the best person of the two candidates to help prevent layoffs, and get Lane on a better financial footing. While we are well aware that, over 15 years of being President, there have also been issues that have come up and this was not a unanimous decision on our committee, the need for knowledge and dedication in these areas led a majority to feel that he is the better candidate. Adrienne Mitchell, President of LCCEA, let me know that LCCEA has also endorsed Bob Baldwin.
Zone 7- Lisa Fragala Lisa is an incumbent Board member already, and is running unopposed for her current seat. Lisa contacted us right after she filed her candidacy, asking for our endorsement. Lisa has been a very supportive person for labor on the Board, especially as we went through the pandemic.
As your COPE officer and as someone who has been very involved in politics for decades, I understand that majority rule means that there are often some who disagree with a decision. We do our best to make well-informed decisions based on a fair democratic process. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me at fiora.lccef@gmail.com.
Endorsements are only the beginning of getting an excellent Board elected. If you feel drawn to putting in any volunteer work as these different campaigns get going, especially in the Zone 2 and Zone 6 races, where there are well-funded opponents running against the best Labor candidates, please reach out to me, or these candidates.
Officer At Large
VACANT
Are you a frustrated 1039 employee that feels like there isn’t much that the union does for you? Well, please join our team and help create a way for the executive council to serve the 1039 employees better. There is a position available for 1039 employees on the council. This is the best way for 1039 employees to assist with what needs to make the contract more equitable. The only way to change the working conditions that you don’t like or feel that are not equitable is to stand up and fight for it. This position was created so that 1039 employees could have a voice. We are asking for this position to be filled because it is important and there are so many 1039 employees who are frustrated with the contract.
Stay connected to LCCEF
Website: https://lccef.org/
Subscribe to Calendar: LCCEF Union Google Calendar
Email address: lccef@lanecc.edu
Resources you may need!
Submit an Important Life Event for you or another member may have coming up.
How to update your physical address on Expresslane.