Bicycle, Skateboard Grievance to Chancellor’s Office?

University fails to respond within time lines?

Apparently the university has failed to respond to the level two hearing of the skateboard, bicycle grievance. This clears the way for the union to file this grievance at the Chancellor’s Office. According to California State University Employees Union Labor Relations Representative Michael H. Hejazi, “The response is late. I will appeal to Level 3.” The next step after level 3 would be arbitration.

UPDATE: Both parties, by mutually agreement, have extended the Level 2 response time-line on the Campus Bike Safety Grievance to Monday May 19, 2008.
[Click here to see more related photographs]

[Copy of Grievance Here]

Union Meeting, Thursday

Union Meeting, Thursday May 15, Noon

Full contract bargaining 2009, Budget crisis looming, What better time:
Let’s Build our Union at SJSU!
Bring a friend, Bring your ideas, Bring lots of enthusiasm!
Featuring special guest speaker:
Russell Kilday-Hicks
SFSU CSUEU Chapter President, Editor, University Employee Newsletter
May 15, Thursday, Noon to 1pm, Clark Hall Room 100H, “The Fish Bowl”
Refreshments will be provided
Please RSVP to Steve Sloan
steve.sloan@sjsu.edu
408/605-0692

Email to University Police Chief Barnes

My Email to Chief Barnes

I know during our recent phone call you said you and your officers had not seen or reported much dangerous activity or unsafe practices on the part of operators of non-motorized vehicles including skateboards, bicycles and razors. At 4:35 pm on May 5 I saw these youths doing acrobatics on the railings of the east side of Clark Hall. I called the UPD dispatcher and the call was logged on my cell phone at 4:35pm. Since it was time for me to go off work, I went back into the building, got ready to go home, took my camera and went out of the building. I had expected to see an officer there since it is maybe 750 feet from there to UPD. Since I saw no officer I started taking pictures. I kept taking pictures. I shot about 25 photos until I finished my roll of film. (Yes, I still shoot film.)

I then walked over to the bike corral and got my bicycle and rode home (circumnavigating SJSU of course.) I never saw any officers and I guess it is no wonder they never saw any dangerous activity or unsafe practices on the part of operators of non-motorized vehicles that day.

[Click here to see more related photographs]

[Copy of Grievance Here]

Discrimination and the bike policy?

Discrimination and the bike policy The photo shown above is of a university employee riding his bicycle as he is exiting a university building. There has been something bothering me, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on, that has nothing to do with the safety argument related to president Kassing’s new bike policy, the part that extends this benefit, “Bicycles are not permitted in buildings unless in a private office, closet, or enclosure…”

The other day it hit me, like a ton of bricks, I should have been more sensitive to it. Like the rider in the photo above, very few of the folks I have seen keeping bicycles in their offices are minorities. Our highest areas of minority employment are among job classifications that do not have a private office, closet, or enclosure where they can store a bike. Most of the minorities in our bargaining units work in classifications that would not be able to use this benefit. I am concerned that by extending this benefit to classifications that are much more likely to be non-minority, my university may have committed de-facto discrimination.

Article 25.1 of our union contract should be also added to this grievance, the part that says, “The CSU prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, religion, ancestry, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical disability, mental disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, medical condition and/or national origin…”

To be able to keep their bike at their work place, in my opinion, that benefit like all benefits have to be given to all employees without prejudice, even unintentional prejudice.

SJSU Budget Forum Today

SJSU President Don W. Kassing, city of San José Councilmember Sam Liccardo, Academic Senate Chair Judith Lessow-Hurley and Benjamin Henderson, president of Associated Students, will be among the speakers at the budget forum, The CSU is the Solution, on Wednesday, April 2, from noon to 1 p.m., in the Student Union, Barrett Ballroom.

Plan to attend, get the facts about the state budget crisis and learn how we can take action to let lawmakers know the importance of the California State University system and the education it provides to students. The SJSU budget forum is one of a series of similar events being held on each CSU campus. More information.

Packed SJSU Union Meeting

SJSU staff union meeting standing room only
Despite it being Spring break and a number of staff members being on vacation or away at conferences, yesterday’s union meeting at SJSU on compensation and in-range progression was standing room only. California State University Employees Union (CSUEU) Labor Relations Representative Michael H. Hejazi presented to the union members on the topic with the assistance of the local union chapter’s President Vera Acevedo, Vice President Jeff Baldwin and Chief Steward Dennis Fox.

Additional Info (From Dennis Fox):

• Michael Hejazi’s PowerPoint Presentation
• Know-Your-Rights Flyer on IRPs
• Handout on Reclassifications and IRPs
• Link to CSU Classification and Qualification Standards (CQS)
• Link to SJSU IRP Guidelines

Is it safe to ride at SJSU

Is it safe to ride bikes on campus sidewalks without helmets?
The issue is one the university has to decide. I am doing my best to be sure the decision is made by them in full awareness of the related facts I can find.

According to a study by William E. Moritz, Ph.D. of the University of Washington entitled Adult Bicyclists in the U.S. presented at the Transportation Research Board’s 77th Annual Meeting, January 11-15, 1998 in Washington D.C., “A RELATIVE DANGER INDEX is calculated which shows that streets with bike lanes have a significantly lower crash rate then either major or minor streets without any bicycle facilities (38 and 56% respectively). Multi-use trails have a crash rate about 40% greater than would be expected based on the miles cycled on them while cycling on the sidewalk is extremely dangerous.” Here are related links I hope will be helpful for this discussion:

http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/health/risks.htm

http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/TSF2005/810617.pdf

http://www.bayareatrafficsignals.org/toolbox/BikeRisk.html

http://www.iihs.org/research/fatality_facts/bicycles.html

http://bicycleuniverse.info/transpo/almanac-safety.html

http://www.johnforester.com/articles.htm

A couple of related comments I have collected:
I am reassured of the value of my helmet In June ‘06 a mechanical problem caused my chain to come off the rear derailer, a quick spin of my clipped in feet, and going only about 4 mph, I fell into a ditch on the side of the road - I couldn’t get my feet out quick enough, obviously. My head/helmet hit a large rock in the ditch and cracked my helmet. Yes, I saw stars!

~Pam

I can tell you about an incident that happened downtown. I was walking north on 4th Street (which is one way heading south) and a guy on a bike (traveling against traffic and on the sidewalk) came up behind me. He swerved around me and hit a woman who was coming out of the parking garage. He hit her hard enough to knock her over. She was dazed, but OK. The whole thing could have been avoided had he been riding properly, but that’s just my opinion.

~Mary

Steve,
I ride my bike to EVC (sometimes), using a road around the edge of campus to get to my office. I am opposed to cycling through the core of the EVC campus. When I was a student at UCSB, I road a bike and objected to not being allowed to ride through the campus. (UCSB actually allowed this, in bike lanes, at low speeds, with stop signs where the lanes crossed walking paths. I was objecting to the speed and stop signs. Hey, I was “younger” then.) In researching police accident records for a Public Speaking course assignment, trying to gather evidence for my position, I learned of the many bike/pedestrian collisions and changed my mind. Bikes are vehicles and belong with other vehicles, not pedestrians! This is what we teach in the ACTC Academy. Stay off sidewalks, off walkways, out of crosswalks, unless you are walking your bike!

Feel free to use this where you think appropriate, along with my LCI #.

Harry Lichtbach LCI #1047
Almaden Cycle Touring Club
San Jose, CA. USA

What is current practice at SJSU:
[Click here to see related pictures on Flickr]

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, Campus Life, bicycling, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca

Union Recognition and you and me

Union Recognition
Representation, in my opinion, is the whole point of having a union. When you have a union the role of a union is to represent employees: establish our rights through collective bargaining, protect our rights in discussions with the employer regarding matters of wages, hours and working conditions, and then (when needed) defend our rights through the grievance process and other legal means. For CSU staff employees represented by CSUEU, recognition of our union’s role is covered in Article 1.1 of our Collective Bargaining Agreement (our contract) which says:

The Trustees of The California State University (CSU) recognize the California State University Employees Union (CSUEU), Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2579, the Union, as the sole and exclusive bargaining representative for Bargaining Units 2, 5, 7 and 9, which includes the employees in classifications described in Appendix A of this Agreement.

I believe the whole process of bargaining representation gets subverted when an employer starts appointing or electing staff representatives to allegedly represent employees in forums of management’s own making that have to do with wages, hours and working conditions. Unions have democracy. Union representatives answer to the employees. Staff councils, management committees, quality circles or whatever you want to call them do not have real democracy, they answer to the employer. Management appointed, or management elected, so-called representatives do not have a way to enforce and protect worker rights. These so-called representatives serve at the pleasure of the employer. Only our union representatives can defend employee rights through legal means, like filing grievances and/or unfair labor practices.

That is why, in my opinion, unions need to fight it when an employer tries to appoint or elect so-called staff representatives to committees, like Kassing’s traffic and parking committee. It needs to be quite clear, these employer selected representatives are not staff representatives, these are management representatives!

When management creates a process that circumvents the ability of our union to represent each of us, on matters that are in the scope of the unions right of representation (in my opinion this is matters regarding wages, hours and working conditions,) it is not just our union’s rights that have been violated. In my opinion when management does this each and every one of our rights to be represented by our union has been violated. I feel when SJSU President Don Kassing set into motion the process of appointing so-called staff representatives to a committee to discuss parking, a topic covered in Article 21 of our contract, he violated my own rights and the rights of every single one of us union represented staff employees at San Jose State University.

President Kassing, if you want to talk to anybody who represents me about anything having to do with parking, talk to my union rep!

Technorati Tags: SJSU, San Jose State University, CSUEU, ssloansjca

Kassing’s Halloween ULP?

Is this an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP)?
Last night President Kassing’s office released two new presidential directives, an hour before midnight on halloween. One of them was regarding the traffic and parking committee. In this directive Kassing said:

Changes in PD 07-05 include creating a broader based selection process for the appointment of San José State staff employees to the Committee…

It goes on to say who will be representing employees on the committee:

Three (3) staff employees selected by the Human Resources Coordinating Council (HRCC), from a list of nominees and self-nominees from each of the divisions across the University…

Maybe I am wrong, but isn’t parking within the scope of bargaining and the only body allowed to represent employees on such matters their union (as defined by HEERA?) I am not a labor lawyer but, if having a committee like this where “staff” (substitute labor here) is represented is legal at all, shouldn’t these staff/labor reps on this committee be appointed by the union(s) representing the staff? Isn’t the failure to do that a violation of labor law and an unfair labor practice?

The Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HERRA) is the law. HERRA section 3571 says in part:

It shall be unlawful for the higher education employer to do any of the following:
[CLIPPED]
(f) Consult with any academic, professional, or staff advisory group on any matter within the scope of representation for employees who are represented by an exclusive representative… [CLIPPED]

So, is this a ULP? Parking is in the collective bargaining agreement (the term used in CSU for our contract,) thus it is within “scope of representation.” What do you think? Did Kassing break the law? In my opinion the answer is yes. I have asked our staff union to look into this.

The heart of the union

The heart of the union
While it is easy to get caught up in hearing the wonderful speeches at the big union meetings like General Council by labor leaders like Andy Stern and politicians like Dennis Kucinich. Yes, that is all great, but the real heart of our union is those many many activists who donate their time and do the hard work without fame or monetary reward. It is folks like Frank and Kathryn and our SJSU labor reps like Jeff, Dennis and Vera and so very many more other unpaid volunteers at all our campuses that make our union work. It is these folks who are the heart of the union and who we all owe a huge debt to. They all deserve our thanks and our admiration because they are all good people who give us so much. Because they all care about us; we have a union.

[See More General Council Photos here on Flickr]