Knocking on Management’s Door!
Kronos Petition Delivery on July 21st

With petition in hand, 40 of your USA coworkers paid a surprise lunchtime visit to the Whitmore building on July 21st to deliver your petition to decision makers on campus, including:

• Kevin Kerwood, Deputy Chief of Human Resources;
• Andy Mangels, Vice Chancellor of Admin and Finance;
• Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs;
• Javier Reyes, Chancellor

When they arrived to the third floor of Whitmore, they were met with closed doors, confused office staff, and an administrator who ran interference and prevented them from actually speaking to any of the people responsible for pushing to break your contract.

You and over 490 coworkers signed the petition, demanding that management stop trying to violate our contract. Afraid to address any of your concerns, they hid in their offices. The same decision makers who want to implement Kronos timekeeping and location tracking for the supposed purpose of “greater accountability for staff” are afraid to face accountability themselves.

Undeterred, USA slid copies of the petition under their doors – and even left a copy on the windshield of Chancellor Reyes’s car! (Let’s hope he actually reads it.) More importantly, they sent a message taken from Chancellor Reyes’s favorite movie, Star Wars: “we’ll be back, and in greater numbers.”

All they have to do is stop breaking the contract.

If you’ve signed and shared the petition, the best thing to do now is to keep talking to your coworkers about the potential headaches of this contract violation, the greater threat of your data being stolen, and what else they stand to lose by not joining the fight.

Want to learn more about our Kronos campaign? Read more on our Kronos webpage.

An Open Letter to Dave Litterer – Congratulations on your retirement!

by Sheila Gilmour, USA President

Please join me in wishing a fond farewell to one of USA’s unsung heroes – Dave Litterer! Those of us who were lucky enough to work with Dave will miss his warm, cheerful demeanor, and the calm level-headedness he brought to USA’s Elections Committee.

I called Dave to wish him a happy retirement and ask for his parting thoughts, and my oh my, did he have some stories to tell!

From July 13-16, four USA members attended this year’s NEA Northeast Organizing Institute in Providence, Rhode Island to grow their organizing skills and work on the campaign for our ongoing fight against Management’s contract violation to implement Kronos onto 20% of our union.

✨ Upcoming Events & Workshops ✨

NOTE: The Multi-Union Crafting Circle is taking a break in August. See you in September!

🍎 Expanded Food Pantry Hours 🍞

As of July 1st, the Campus Pantry is open one hour earlier on Tuesdays and Thursdays and will open later on Saturdays. The pantry continues to be a great resource to students and staff while we continue the fight for living wages.

🌷 In case you missed it!🌻