"You may be aware that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the United Professors of Marin. In those 30 years I, personally, have seen more than a dozen college presidents come and go. I have sat through more meetings of the College Board of Trustees than anyone in this room, and that includes the trustee guests in the front row. But enough about me, let’s talk about you.

If you are the average College of Marin employee you have provided more years of service to this District than the average CoM president. If you are a faculty member just out of your probationary period, you have provided more years of service to this District than almost half of the current members of the Board of Trustees. But enough about you, let’s talk about us.

We do come and go in this District, we don’t stay forever. Yet we all have a collective memory of who we are, what is expected of us and what rights and privileges are available to us. Whether you belong to SEIU, CSEA or UPM, this collective memory is found in the same place—in your collective bargaining agreement, in your contract.

The Trustees and the administration of the College of Marin are well aware that we all have knowledge that extends beyond the tenure of most everyone here. It is the single-most reason that contract negotiations for all unions have been agonizingly slow and non-productive. If you doubt my perspective and you are in SEIU, ask yourself how many people on the District’s bargaining team have first-hand experience in maintenance or groundskeeping or law enforcement. If you belong to CSEA, how many of the District’s representatives with whom you bargain have first-hand experience as technicians or lab techs or in registration or financial aid, for example? And if you are a member of UPM, you can count on no fingers the number of people on the District’s bargaining team that are academic administrators.

This is not a coincidence. This is a concerted effort to make you forget—and eventually lose—the rights that are collectively yours. Do not let this happen. Your only success in keeping or gaining anything lies in the collective bargaining process and the contract that ultimately results. If you think otherwise, then you will become a victim of job amnesia, content with only what is benevolently offered to you by someone with other interests. But then again, it won’t really matter, because you will have forgotten that you ever had—or could have—something different and better.

Stay informed. Stay involved. It cannot happen without you."