Hi All,

On August 5th, the Los Angeles Dodgers showed their respect for unions on Dodgers’ Union Night. All fans received a unique Dodgers Union T-shirt, and $1 from each ticket purchase was given to the Labor 411 Educational Fund. AFT 1521 members and their families were among the thousands of union members recognized this evening. The Dodgers acknowledged the importance of unions and the role collective bargaining plays in workers’ lives. Unions have fought for most of the things that average Americans enjoy about their jobs, including shortening the work week to forty hours, overtime, paid vacation, sick pay, safe working conditions, health care, and holidays.

Our fight is not over as we have not secured health care for our adjuncts and need to continue to ensure competitive wages, benefits, and working conditions for our faculty. Fighting for these things is also fighting for the future of our students and communities. Our working conditions are our students’ learning conditions, and our fight for the respect our faculty deserves is an example to all workers, especially our students, of what union power looks like As you know, we will begin contract negotiations soon. In preparation, we will have an easily accessible QR code electronic contract survey ready for members to fill out on opening day. We will send the survey out in an email as well. This will be just the beginning of a tough contract campaign for which we will need all members’ help to win. So, consider this the 7th inning stretch and go Union Blue!

In Unity,

A. James McKeever PhD
AFT 1521 Faculty Guild President