It is Time to Lead and Not Follow.

This is the campaign theme of the New Leadership Slate.

In what ways do we need to lead?

First, we need to lead by being the strongest union in our system.

To become strong, we need:

* transparency in all union matters, especially in the realm of how the union spends and invests members’ dues

* communication, with an emphasis on communication from members to elected officers

* member involvement on campuses and especially within the union itself

By strengthening our union, we will then be able to lead in a second real--by having the best contract language in the system.

Now, fifteen years after the State Technical College system and Community College system merger, we still lag behind the major union of the former technical colleges--the American Federation of Teachers (the AFT)--in wages, working conditions, and job security.

Our current leaders have failed to make us a strong union, and they have failed to even achieve contract parity with the AFT.

In our next few entries, we’ll examine the language of the 4C’s and AFT contracts. This should be especially enlightening to 4C’s members on non-merged campuses. (Our merged campuses are Capital, Gateway, Naugatuck, Norwalk, and Three Rivers.)

In later entries, we’ll outline our vision for strengthening our union.

Working together, we will do better.