Standing up for the rights of classified employees
Union leader taken away in handcuffs by college administration

When Shannon Willson showed up at the first meeting of the committee charged with hiring a vice president of administrative services for Long Beach Community College (LBCC), the last thing she expected was to be led away in handcuffs. As president of the Long Beach Council of Classified Employees/AFT, her right to sit on the committee is set forth in California law and the college district's own policies.

The right of all the groups on a campus to participate in shared governance is guaranteed under California law. Until 2000, Long Beach allowed classified staff to sit on some committees. This was also a requirement of the classified union's contract.

In March 2000, however, the union representing classifieds (California School Employees Association) was decertified, and the AFT was elected bargaining agent. Since then, the administration has refused to recognize or deal with the union even though the contract remained in effect. Administrators locked the doors of the union office, kicked classified staff off committees, took away release time from the union officers, and "decided we had lost all of our organizational rights," Willson says. The administration claims that because "CSEA" is still listed on the documents as staff representative, it does not have to recognize AFT. At the same time, it has avoided reaching a new collective bargaining contract.

The union has filed unfair labor practices and awaits final rulings.

LBCCE represents 400 technical, clerical, custodial and grounds staff who are in their fourth year without a contract. After the prior bargaining representative negotiated unsuccessfully for two years, the administration threw out the resolved issues when the AFT was elected, and management has engaged in unproductive bargaining ever since.

Willson decided to push the point of shared governance for several reasons. First, the administrative slot being filled had direct supervision of classified employees as its charge. Second, the administration's treatment of classified staff has been increasingly "punitive and demoralizing," she says. "I cannot tolerate the way they've treated the classifieds--disenfranchising one of the largest groups on campus." Her standing up to the administration has given a huge boost to classifieds' morale. "It was as if we were all arrested," she says.