As 2018 edges closer to 2019, we have increased opportunities to offer gratitude by giving of ourselves to family, friends, colleagues, and even strangers. As we sort out our feelings about the moral and societal failure of another mass shooting and a devastating natural disaster, we search for ways to help. The Guild will be joining the LA County Federation of Labor in its
Labor Resilience Partnership
, a new endeavor to train labor union members to serve as disaster response volunteers in the hours, days, weeks, and months after a major disaster.
These last few weeks have brought challenges we hope never to have to face. But once again, we find that what gets us through hard times is reaching out to those around us.
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In Solidarity,
Joanne Waddell
AFT 1521 President
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New Leadership for Student Intern Program
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By Oren Peleg
At age 15, Jessica Conte began her first job working as a grocery store clerk. Part of the job meant joining her first union. Membership and the overall concept of unionizing quickly struck a chord with her.
“I even attempted to organize a strike for higher wages,” Conte said recently. “But it didn’t happen.”
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Meet the New Guild Leaders
AFT 1521 is excited to welcome some fresh faces to Guild leadership. These new leaders took office last Spring and will serve through the Spring of 2020. This is part of a series introducing some of the Guild’s new leaders.
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Guild Member Joins Student Loan Fight
One of the plaintiffs in the AFT lawsuit against Navient is an adjunct faculty member at one of our LACCD colleges who is also an instructor at Cal State University, Northridge. Rebecca [who prefers not to be identified] has been teaching English composition at the colleges for the past eight years since obtaining her graduate degree, which was funded by student loans obtained through Navient.
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Student Loan Debt: A Growing Problem
Student loan debt is a growing problem for many of our faculty, a particularly onerous burden for those of us who teach in public education rather than in the private sector. Our national affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers, is bringing a class action lawsuit on behalf of public servants regarding the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF), which forgives federal student loan debt after the borrower makes 120 qualifying payments.
The suit alleges that Navient, a private, for-profit student loan servicing company, which manages and collects on federal student loans on behalf of the federal government, has made misrepresentations to steer borrowers away from Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Navient has provided false information to borrowers about whether they qualify for PSLF, resulting in serious financial burdens. Borrowers have complained that they were not informed about Public Service Loan Forgiveness or income-driven repayment plans, which are supposed to help borrowers maintain manageable monthly payments before the loans are forgiven.
This lawsuit seeks financial relief for those who have been misinformed and an injunction to prevent Navient from continuing its misconduct.
AFT Student Debt Clinics
Among the services that AFT is offering to its affiliate members are AFT Student Debt Clinics. The clinics provide information on how to enroll in income-driven student loan repayment programs and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. A session was offered in Los Angeles at the Guild’s Retirement and Benefits Conference in September. For information on future clinics, contact the Guild Office at
info@aft1521.org.
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DHLI Launches Earners & Learners Project
Just how hard is going to school and working simultaneously? The Dolores Huerta Labor Institute (DHLI) is trying to find out and ultimately enact change for working students with the launch of its new Earners and Learners Project, an exciting joint research venture with the UCLA Labor Center.
Led by DHLI’s co-director Mindy Chen, the project, currently in the recruitment phase, will provide LACCD students educational opportunities to research and produce data on the struggles of working students.
“As we collect data we’ll also help students learn survey research methods and help others understand and validate the difficulties of working students with this large data set that we hope to report in 2020,” she said. “It can really help contribute to the general understanding of what it’s like to be a working student.”
Chen said the data collection will focus on topics such as how many students are supporting families, financial aid specifics, the nature of student employment and how work not related to one’s field of study detracts from academic performance. The overall goal of Earners and Learners, Chen added, is to facilitate effective policy changes.
“We want to guide our administrators,” Chen said. “That could mean providing books, more financial aid, waivers for tuition, or equipment they may need to succeed.”
In order for Earners and Learners to succeed as a research-gathering mission, Chen noted that the DHLI needs help from LACCD faculty. Earlier this year, she spoke to members of the Guild and asked them to assist with recruitment by including it on course syllabi.
“We want students to learn about themselves from the research process, but we also want faculty to be involved and learn about what their students are going through,” Chen said. “The data built will hopefully help faculty so that they can better service the needs of their students.”
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Become a Delegate at the CFT Convention this March in L.A.!
You have an opportunity to celebrate the 100th anniversary of our statewide union, the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) at its convention being held in Los Angeles March 22-24.
Because of our membership strength, the Guild is eligible for over 100 delegates. Information has been sent to members’ homes to solicit the names of those interested in running as official delegates. It’s not too late, however, to write in your name as a delegate when you receive your ballot in the mail, so watch for the ballots, which have been mailed on November 26th and must be returned by December 14
th
. The names of the selected delegates will be posted on the Guild website on December 18th.
The CFT Convention will be held at the Millennium Biltmore. Go to
www.cft.org
for more information closer to the event.
2019 is a special year for CFT as it celebrates its founding 100 years ago. The convention is the Federation’s highest governance body, where delegates shape union policy and positions on issues affecting all members. In 2019, the Convention will elect officers of the CFT including President, Secretary Treasurer and 24 Vice Presidents.
General Sessions are packed with speakers, awards, and debate on union policy. The CFT division councils, including the Community College Council, meet and there will be workshops on a wide range of topics. There’s time for fun as well, with social events being held throughout the three-day event.
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Election Recap – Riding the Blue Wave!
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Joining the efforts of thousands of Californians, AFT 1521 members participated in numerous campaigns in the November election by reaching out to colleagues, friends, and neighbors. Guild members took part in phone banking, precinct walking, and posting endorsements on social media.
“These efforts contributed to the positive results we saw in this election,” said Natalina Monteiro, Guild Political Director. Among those wins was the election of the candidate endorsed by CFT, Tony Thurmond, for State Superintendent of Instruction, who triumphed over his well-financed charter school-supported opponent Marshall Tuck. “Unfortunately, we didn’t do as well in the race for State Senate seat 22, in which former LACCD trustee Mike Eng lost to Susan Rubio, whose campaign received a significant amount of funding from charter school advocates.”
Our members campaigned in many other races, including that of Congressional District 25, won by Democratic candidate Katie Hill. A number of members helped out by campaigning for Democrat Gil Cisneros in CD 39, who won by over 4,000 votes in a close race against his Republican opponent.
Phone banking efforts at the Guild office focused on several propositions. “We were pleased that two propositions we opposed, Prop 5 (property tax reduction for seniors buying more expensive homes) and Prop 6 (repeal of the fuel tax), failed,” said Monteiro. “But we were disappointed that Prop 10 (rent control) was defeated.”
The Guild extends congratulations to Alex Monteiro, Natalina’s brother, won a seat on the Hawthorne City Council.
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Motions Passed at the Oct. 16 Executive Board Meeting
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- Approved $4500 for Tony Thurmond’s campaign for Superintendent of Public Instruction
- Approved $1500 for Miguel Santiago’s campaign for AD53
- Approved $2500 for Ricardo Lara’s campaign for Insurance Commissioner
- Approved $510 for two tickets to the 2018 Los Angeles County Democratic Party’s annual Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Dinner
- Approved the 2019 CFT election timeline with corrections—ballots mailed to members’ homes 11/26/18, ballots to be received by 12/14/18, delegates announced 12/18/18.
- M/S/P (Waddell): Approved up to $250 per person to reimburse expenses directly related to participation in the 2019 CFT Convention for the top vote-getter from each chapter and the additional top 17 vote-getters at large
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