-----Original Message----- From: Jesse Ventura <ventura_jess at hotmail.com>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1998 10:26:21 -0800 (PST)
>Subject: EMERGENCY UNION NEWS! (fwd)
>
>[Identifying header information has been deleted.]
>
>PLEASE GIVE WIDEST DISTRIBUTION.
>
>Following is an urgent message from ad-hoc organizing committee members
>of the ASE/UAW, who have been organizing at the UCSB campus since 1992.
We
>remain absolutely pro-union, pro-UAW, pro-democracy, and pro-local
>control of our union. Please consider our remarks with care and
>urgency.
>
>As you likely know, for years, our union's ad hoc organizing committee
>has fought for
>
>* graduate student employees=92 right to collective bargaining=20
>* democratic unionism and a democratic workplace=20
>* local autonomy
>
>Though these goals would seem self-evident, our local organizers have
>been met with systematic resistance from certain UAW staff assigned to
>the UC campaign. Most recently, the intensity of their opposition to
>our goals has escalated in unforseeable ways. In particular,
>
>* We have been denied access to vital information concerning the
>=09strike (e.g. details about strike pay and practical legal issues).
>* Membership lists and other essential organizing materials were
>=09seized by UAW officials.
>* UAW staff are threatening to dissolve our democratically elected
>=09strike committee because, among other things, the committee has
>=09supported open informational meetings (as members were promised
>=09during last spring's strike vote). =20
>* The UAW's field representative has stated that she has "absolute
power"
>=09(her words) over our organization as well as the speech and
>=09actions of members, and is vigorously attempting to exercise this
>=09power even if it means the weakening or even collapse of our local
>=09campaign (yes, she has actually said this, too). =20
>* A squad of counter-organizers has descended on our campus with the
>=09precise goal of fomenting factionalism in our union.=20
>
>Here are three things you can do beginning right now:
>
>* If people approach you about the union, ask them to identify their
>=09campus affiliation so that it is absolutely clear who you are
>=09speaking to. =20
>* Talk to your coworkers about these developments. =20
>* Attend general membership meetings as called by our Strike
Committee,
>=09beginning tonight (Monday 11/9) at 5 pm in the GSA lounge, and
>=09subsequently on Tuesday (11/10) and next Monday (11/16), also at 5
>=09pm in the GSA lounge.
>
>ANY ENERGY YOU CAN DEVOTE ALONG THESE LINES WILL BE ESPECIALLY USEFUL
IN
>REAFFIRMING THE LEGITIMACY OF *OUR* UNION (AND ITS LOCALLY-ELECTED
>STRIKE COMMITTEE) AT THIS CRUCIAL JUNCTURE.
>
>
>
>
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