Chaparral had the pleasure of speaking with returning Guild President Richard Kamei as he embarked on another year of leadership. Given all the changes we see on campus, we asked him how he sees his role and advice for the membership.
Chaparral: What is the biggest change you have made in your position?
Richard Kamei: I am looking forward to the academic year with excitement and hope. Although the following is not a change that I made, per se, it is a significant change that I would like to highlight. I would like to begin by thanking our former Chief Negotiator, Caroline DePiro, and Operations Officer, David Hassett, for all their hard work and camaraderie. As I recently returned to the position of Guild President in 2023-2024, their support for me and dedication to the Guild to stay on another year for my first year back to ensure a smooth transition is greatly appreciated. On the negotiations team, Cindy Pollack’s invaluable contributions will be missed, but, fortunately, she is still our Grievance Officer doing an incredible job as always. Moreover, Joel Weiss will no longer be serving as our Division Liaison Coordinator, so I would also like to thank him for all his hard work helping to recruit new Guild members and maintaining the critical communication between the Guild leadership and our division liaisons.
Recently, there has been quite a lot of interest in becoming involved with the Guild, which gives me hope for our future. On the Guild Executive Committee, we have three new officers, Robyn Fishman, Operations Officer, Jennie Quiñonez-Skinner, Public Information Officer, and Kevin Dimatulac, Secretary. We also have a new Chief Negotiator, Roger Bowerman, and two new negotiations team members, Aisha Conner-Gaten and Camillia Trombino. Moreover, we have a new Division Liaison Coordinator, Sangita Dube. As many of you know, these folks are without a doubt extremely hardworking and conscientious colleagues and I feel fortunate to work with them along with our dedicated colleagues who continue to serve on Guild Exec and on the Guild negotiations team. The following make up the Guild Exec:
Next, the following make up the Guild negotiations team:
I would be remiss if I did not also mention the one and only Frankie Strong, our Governance Office Coordinator, who always makes sure that everything runs smoothly.
Another significant change is that the Guild recently negotiated the implementation of the Part-Time Health Insurance Program, which will allow for qualifying part-time faculty to be eligible to participate in the District’s health insurance program at no cost. This was only made possible through the combined efforts of key players throughout the years in our Guild, the CFT, State legislators, and our GCC Administration. At the time of this writing, the Guild members and the Board of Trustees still need to vote to ratify this tentative agreement, but once it is ratified it will have a tremendously positive impact on the lives of many of our part-time sisters, brothers, and siblings. Once ratified, the struggle is not over. We will still need to advocate to our legislators to keep funding the reimbursement program. This is one of the many reasons why a strong union is critical for the well-being of our society.
Chaparral: What is one new thing you are looking forward to in your position this year?
Richard Kamei: Staying on the theme of change, I am looking forward to our continued work on a succession plan for our leadership positions, including the president position. In this way, we can rest assured that our Guild will be strong and effective for many years to come.
Chaparral: What advice as CAMPUS POSITION (i.e. As Guild President, etc.) would you give to someone who is nervous or anxious about changes at GCC?
Richard Kamei: Change is inevitable, so to some extent we need to embrace it and influence it where we can. My perspective on change is that it occurs through a dialectical process where groups such as the Guild and the District come together with opposing interests (although there are instances where we find common ground) and through the tension that arises, ideally, solutions that are win-win come about. Either way, there is a give and take by the parties and, of course, we work very hard to protect and improve on our wages, hours, benefits, and working conditions, while at the same time being mindful to protect our beloved College.
I also understand that changes at GCC can cause stress and a sense of uncertainty. In sociology, we have a concept called anomie, which was coined by the sociologist Emile Durkheim. It is a state of normlessness or rulelessness that comes about due to rapid changes within society. Needless to say, there have been a lot of changes that have occurred in our society as well as at GCC in recent years due to the pandemic, increased remote work, rapidly evolving technology such as AI, just to name of few. Therefore, the feeling of stress and uncertainty is understandable. The advice that I can give as Guild President would be to communicate with the Guild leadership if you have a concern that changes are negatively impacting your working conditions. Moreover, if possible, get involved in shared governance. In order for us to maintain our proud tradition of democratic decision making at GCC, we must continue to have dedicated faculty, classified professionals, and administrators serving on the various governance committees.
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