Check out this video of our incredibly talented friends up in Berkeley singing an original song about our struggle for union democracy!
National media attention…
4 MayThe Huffington Post reports on the elections fiasco.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/04/vote-counting-resumes-uc-grad-students-union_n_857600.html
Update: Vote Count to Resume Thursday 9AM
3 MayReposted from our friends at awdu.org
We have just learned that the elections committee of our local convened today at 12:30pm and agreed to restart the counting at 9am on Thursday (5/5)! This is a huge victory for rank-and-file members who joined or supported the sit-down at the statewide offices in Berkeley and LA and for everyone who helped with emails, media contacts, petitions and with securing support from progressive faculty and labor activists!! By drawing on the proud tradition of rank-and-file activism and direct action in the US labor movement, the tradition which built the UAW in the first place, members made clear that they would not stand by and allow themselves to be disenfranchised.
AWDU candidates and supporters look forward to the resumption of the count and will be present to help ensure it proceeds without unnecessary delays or suspensions. It has been our position all along that win or lose, AWDU is committed to an elections process that is free and fair, and that allows ordinary members to decide how their union should be run, and by whom. Given the extraordinary and outrageous circumstances in which the count was suspended, we plan to continue the sit-in until the voting process is fully complete and a certified result has been issued.
Nick Kardahji
PhD Student, Dept. of History
UC Berkeley Campus Recording Secretary, UAW 2865
Election Updates and an Invitation!
2 MayWe’re a pretty cheerful bunch down here in sunny southern California, so we’ll start with the invitation first. We’re now on day two of monitoring ballot boxes, and things couldn’t be going better for us– though the boxes probably feel differently. They’re lonely. They just want to be counted. They even started their own facebook page which you can find here– http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Abandoned-Ballot-Boxes/184009888312938. So help them out by heading down to your union office to witness the abandoned ballots, write a letter demanding a fair vote count, and learn more about your union. You could also just hang out with us, but we think the boxes are probably more desperate for your friendship. You can sign up for a time by visiting our Wejoinin page at http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/rdvck, but RSVPs aren’t required! We’ll have folks here round the clock just watching….waiting….
Onto the news: The folks over at awdu.org have updated the blog with several new posts about progress in resolving the election after the Elections Committee abandoned its job on Saturday. Since they’ve done such a fine job of updating, and since we’re busy keeping an eye on these boxes, we’ll go ahead and link to their posts as a matter of expediency.
First update: people at Berkeley are indefinitely sitting down in the UAW office up there until the votes are counted. Here’s the post on that story: http://www.awdu.org/were-in-the-uaw-statewide-office-until-our-votes-get-counted.
Second update: our own Kyle Arnone has been influential in bringing together more than fifty scholars in labor studies to sign onto a letter asking the vote count to resume. Here’s that post: http://www.awdu.org/50-prominent-labor-scholars-call-for-resumption-of-the-vote-count.
Third update: seems that USEJ might just want to get these votes counted as well. Here’s the post: http://www.awdu.org/time-to-resume-vote-counting.
We’ll keep you posted as more exciting things happen at 900 Hilgard (and those things might involve banjos).
Erin
Ballot Watch: 2011
2 MayOur Elections Committee isn’t interested in maintaining the integrity of our ballots, so now you can do it for them.
Visit our ustream site to join in!
awduucla 