ORIGINALLY ENTITLED:
TO “EACH” HIS OWN by Red Emma
Still ecstatic over the news of General Augusto Pinochet’s arrest in London this weekend, Red Emma grabbed his worn copy of Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals,” “Robert’s Rules of Order” and the proposed union bylaws and, careful to avoid all toll roads, transported himself to the FA [faculty union] Rep Council meeting, confident that although the moral arc of the universe might bend, as Dr. King said, toward justice, two such equitable contortions were perhaps too many to hope for in one week. Eager to safeguard any accidental on purpose misinterpretations which might befall the slim concession to part-time faculty representation included in the bylaws, I had spoken by phone earlier to David Lebow, Chair of the CTA Saddleback CC CTA Board Team, making a point of calling to his attention the potentially (in my mind) vulnerable following language in the section on Part-Time (Associate) Faculty Representation.
“Part-time faculty at each college shall have one representative on the Representative Council.”
Red Emma knows what this meant to him and, after speaking with Mr. Lebow, learned that it meant the same to the venerable Chair; that is, there would be, pending approval of the bylaws, TWO part-time rep positions on the ballot, one representing IVC and one Saddleback. An instructor of writing, I advised I would have included the word “each” after “representative” to make things, as General Pinochet’s sponsor, Dick Nixon said, “perfectly clear.” This would have been, Mr. Lebow assured me, redundant and at the meeting he would, he promised, clarify and confirm what I still perceived as a potentially lethal (to part-timers) typo.
General Pinochet’s house arrest notwithstanding, there is room for evil in the world and it resides in a little room in the Saddleback library where, true to Red Emma’s sorry expectations, that group we whimsically call the union leadership attempted first to get everybody to agree that nothing could be done about my concern, since the bylaws would be voted on absent clarification. Then Mr. Lebow and his CTA team advised that he was there to “officially” advise the correctness of my interpretation of the “each” clause, after which time it was the responsibility of the Rep Council to amend the bylaws. Yikes. This is where Emma began to wonder if General Pinochet was in fact handcuffed to his hospital bed. A tenacious revanchist sitting next to the tonsorially captivating Madame President indicated that my favorite clause was intentionally “vague,” at which point Mr. Lebow indicated in no uncertain terms that Mr. McClendon was in fact wrong.
Mr. Lebow: “You are not right.”
Chair Lebow indicated that the ballot would have to include two part-time reps, a judgment which led to expressions of some discontent from the generals.
Meanwhile, back in London, Pinochet, murderer of thousands, reaches for a glass of water. Oops, those darn cuffs.
Red Emma left the proceedings suspecting that at next month’s junta meeting, an attempt would be made to strip the nearly 700 SOCCCD part-timers of half of their potential representation on the Council; half of two being exactly one. With Mr. Lebow safely returned to CTA Headquarters, the revanchists will no doubt attempt some shenanigans. Red Emma pledges to alert the CTA to any accidental oversights by the generals.
Finally, Red Emma urges all part-timers to join the FA, even though it doesn’t actually want us. Especially because it doesn’t want us. Although you can’t vote on the bylaws if you didn’t sign up before September 1, any dues-paying member can vote in the general election scheduled for November (until the generals find a way to disappear that clause). For the record, Red Emma voted FOR the bylaws—as clarified officially by Mr. Lebow at the October 19 meeting. --RE
Andrew Tonkovich
