If you are subbing in a classroom, full day classroom coverage, let us know!  This is a huge problem in our schools with support staff subbing.  Due to the 170+ teacher vacancies throughout the district, administrators are putting SSA's in the place of teachers and subs.  Support Staff is not compensated for this work and students are not receiving adequate instructional time for learning.  

If this is happening at your school please call 835-2699 or email detroitparasdj@ameritech.net.  We need to shed light on this problem and fight back.

This is a reminder of the membership meeting tomorrow.  Please plan to attend. Saturday, November 14, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. at the union office: 14191 Greenfield between Grand River and Schoolcraft.

Hope to see you there.

Today I met with the Members at Thurgood Marshall for Lunch and Learn.  It was nice to meet all of them.  The conversation was engaging and a lot of information was shared.  Secretary Treasurer Rose Kirtz-Adridge was there sharing information to to keep them informed.

Thank you Thurgood Family for sharing the hour of your lunchtime with Rose and I to get information, get involved and to commit to building a stronger union.

Special thanks to Building Rep. Theresa Rolland for getting all members together to be informed.

In Solidarity,

Donna Jackson

President

One of the most vital functions of a Union is to prevent management from intimidating employees.  Nowhere is this more important than in closed-door meetings when supervisors attempt to coerce employees into a confession of wrongdoing.

The right of employees to have the presence of union representatives during investigatory interviews was announced by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1975 in NLRB vs. J. Weingarten, Inc.  Since that case involved a clerk being investigated by the Weingarten Company, these rights have become known as the Weingarten rights.

Unions should encourage workers to assert their Weingarten rights.  The presence of a union representative can help in many ways.  For example:

·      They can help a fearful or inarticulate employee explain what happened.

·      They can raise extenuating factors.

·      They can advise an employee against blindly denying everything, thereby giving the appearance of dishonesty and guilt.

·      They can help prevent an employee from making fatal admissions.

·      They can stop an employee from losing his or her temper, and perhaps getting fired for insubordination.

·      They can serve as a witness to prevent supervisors from giving a false account of the conversation.

WHAT IS AN INVESTIGATORY INTERVIEW

Employees have Weingarten rights only during investigatory interviews.  An investigatory interview occurs when a supervisor questions an employee to obtain information that could be used as a basis for discipline or asks an employee to defend his or her conduct.  If an employee has a reasonable belief that discipline or other adverse consequences may result from what he or she says, the employee has a right to request union representation.  Investigatory interviews usually relate to subjects such as:

·      absenteeism

·      accidents

·      damage to company property

·      drinking

·      drugs

·      falsification of records

·      fighting

·      insubordination

·      lateness

·      poor attitude

·      sabotage

·      theft

·      violation of safety rules

·      work performance

If an employee has determined that disciplinary action may result from the investigatory interview, a simple statement such as:

“If this discussion could in any way lead to my being disciplined or terminated, or affect my personal working conditions, I respectfully request that my union representative, officer, or steward be present at the meeting.  Without representation, I choose not to answer any questions.”

would be enough to enforce their federally protected rights.

WEINGARTEN RULES

Under the Supreme Court’s Weingarten decision, when an investigatory interview occurs, the following rules apply:

RULE 1:   The employee must make a clear request for union representation before or during the interview.  The employee cannot be punished for making this request.

RULE 2:   After the employee makes the request, the employer must choose from among three options.  The employer must either:

1. Grant the request and delay questioning until the union representative arrives and has a chance to consult privately with the employee; or
2. Deny the request and end the interview immediately; or
3. Give the employee a choice of:

1.    having the interview without representation; or

2.    ending the interview.

RULE 3:   If the employer denies a request for union representation, and continues to ask questions, they have committed an unfair labor practice and the employee has a right to refuse to answer.  The employer may not discipline the employee for such a refusal.

While every grievance begins as a complaint, all complaints do not become grievances.  In order to know what complaints can be processed as grievances, you will need to refer to the Collective Bargaining Agreement between Bergen Community College and the Bergen Community College Chapter of the United Adjunct Faculty of New Jersey.  (You can access the Agreement on this site under “Resources”.)

As you will see in Article VII of the contract, a grievance can arise from a violation, misinterpretation, or improper application of the Agreement or a violation of any rule or policy of the Administration affecting the terms and conditions of employment.

The purpose of the grievance procedure is to provide for the speedy, orderly and equitable resolution of disputes. Inherent in the grievance process is the remedy sought which must be identified in order to make the grievant whole.  In selecting an appropriate remedy, it is important to keep in mind that the purpose of the remedy is restoration not retribution.  The remedy should be consistent with the collective bargaining agreement in order to protect the integrity of the contract.

If you feel that the conditions for a grievance have been met, please do the following:

1. Carefully document all facts including dates and times pertaining to the grievance.

2. Contact one of your local stewards – their contact info can be found under “About Us”.

Remember that there is a big difference between a gripe and a grievance.  A grievance is a formal challenge to the employer that the contract or College policy has not been followed.

Fortunately, most problems can be settled informally without filing paperwork.  But it is imperative that you contact your local leadership as soon as possible when you have reason to believe you have a grievance.  There are strict timelines for the filing process (which you will also find under the grievance article in the contract), and they start the minute the violation takes place.

Today I met with the Members at Edison Elementary for the first Lunch and Learn. I had the opportunity to meet with General Ed and Associate Teacher SSA's, Noon Hour Aides and Food Service members.  Information was shared and your concerns were heard.   It was great meeting you all!

AFT Michigan Staff Rep Liz Duhn was there to discuss the issue of the Right to Work law and how it will impact all members.

Special thanks to Building Rep Andella White for bringing it all together.

In Solidarity,

Donna Jackson

President

Building Reps and Contact Persons please turn in your rosters.  Rosters were mailed to reps the end of September.  It is important that rosters are turned in so that our database can be updated with members current informaton.  If you have not returned your roster please turn in ASAP.

Saturday, November 7 Building Reps workshop is CANCELLED.

No RSVP's.  Workshop will be rescheduled.

Paraprofessionls, Teachers, Food Service, Clerical, Noon Hour Aides, Special Ed., Social Workers, Academic Engagement Officers, community and many more were represented at Tuesday's rally in Lansing and the Fisher Building.

We came together as one to send a message to Emergency Manager Darnell Earley, Governor Snyder and Legislator's that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Stop the concessions and leave our healthcare alone! There were 71 schools and 2700 strong represented in Lansing.  It was truly a day of action.

Let's continue the fight, TOGETHER WE CAN WIN!

I just recently watched Harlan County, U.S.A., directed by Barbara Kopple, about the mineworkers in Kentucky who endured a long and painful 13-month strike in 1974 to gain a contract from the mine operators. Kopple won an academy award for the film for Best Documentary Feature in 1976. If you want a quick introduction to the basics of organizing, this film instructs well, giving all the basic components: workers, owners, scabs, contract, union. It also got me to thinking about other films with a similar content that came readily to mind, like Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980), Norma Rae (1979), and Silkwood (1983). It occurred to me that the 70s was a time for pro-labor films; and then I wondered what happened to that theme.

The 80s happened. Reagan happened. That’s what happened. What I had known as a young person, that Reagan turned the country markedly to the right culturally and politically, came back to me in a wholly new and fresh way. As the credits rolled on Harlan, I recursively reread the 80s; I always knew it was a reactionary time, but Harlan in retrospect drove home for me just how dangerously and consummately the 80s and Reaganomics effectively shut down a worker movement. In fact, even now, we reject the 70s as a horrible time for culture in general: disco and pop music, hairstyles, fashion all draw scornful laughter as we look back on it.

What if our disdain of disco duck and the Bee Gees and Saturday Night Fever is really born in the rejection of freedom movements? The 70s were, after all, the decade after the 60s. And freedom and civil and worker movements were gaining some real traction. Stonewall. Roe v. Wade. A look at 70s narrative fiction films attests to what is now for us an estranged discourse of social criticism and stories of the marginalized: The Deer Hunter, Chinatown, Taxi Driver, Shaft, Soylent Green, Dog Day Afternoon, Saturday Night Fever.

So what to make of this? Workers surged in the 30s in America and then they were put down in the 40s and 50s, then they surged again in the 60s and 70s. And then we were shut down. And have been since. So, I say, get out your Bee Gees albums. Or download Too Much Heaven and Staying Alive from ITunes, and listen to those groovy sounds. Dance naked in your house and sing to the dog. Maybe even read up on Stonewall, and watch a Village People YouTube video, if you’re brave. The gay, bad taste of the 70s is actually a pinnacle of artistic, political, and social achievement that deserves not our scorn but our earnest admiration and a sincere revisit. Watch Harlan County, U.S.A.

Valerie Holliday
Vice President
UFCT 1130