The California State University division of the California State Employees Association, CSEA, was the union that represented employees in four bargaining units of the California State University System. Now, that division of the union has broken away (to an extent) and formed the California State University Employees Union, CSUEU (which is still affiliated with CSEA.)
I believe in my heart in the concept of collective bargaining. I am a former president of the CSEA (now CSUEU) chapter at San Jose State University.
With that history in mind, I hope the new organization has an increased focus on democratic principles and practices. In my opinion labor unions cannot be secret societies that are not accountable to their constituencies, that do not report their budgets, expenditures and income to the constituency and that fail to communicate matters like policy and by-laws, union meeting times and locations, officer nominations, the status of bargaining and the distribution of union funds to the people they represent. In my opinion employees have a right to know what their union is doing and where their money is being spent.
In my opinion democracy is at the heart of unionism. The union has to have firm processes in place to address problems, complaints and issues not just between the employees and the employer, but between the employees and their union. I hope the new union makes democratic representation a core value as they move forward.
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