STEWARD – REGION 1 (2 OPEN POSITIONS)
Ruby Byrne
My name is Ruby Byrne, and I would like to represent Region 1 as a Union Steward. I came to UW a year ago to begin working towards my Ph.D. in physics. Over the past months I have become increasingly involved with our union and have come to recognize its important role in ensuring my well-being and that of my colleagues. As an indispensable component of the UW workforce, us academic workers deserve fair compensation for our labor—including living wages (that are not garnished by fees), adequate health insurance, and work environments that are free from harassment and abuse. I feel that a strong, worker-led union is the best way to promote these interests on an institutional level. Local 4121 has achieved many victories for us academic workers in the past several years. As a steward, I will continue this important work by campaigning for wages that reflect the ever-increasing cost of living here in Seattle and fighting against discriminatory practices that make UW an unsafe place for racial minorities and LGBT individuals. I will also work to improve transparency and accountability within the union to make sure every union action is truly representative of its members’ interests. In particular, I will promote union participation among my colleagues in Region 1 and ensure that union resources are available to those who need them.
Elliot Koontz
My name is Elliot Koontz, and I’m running in order to represent the constituents within my program, region and school as academic workers. My program in Quantitative Ecology and Resource Management (QERM) does not currently have any members as Region 1 representatives, and as such I think that my addition to UAW 4121 would broaden the representation of students within this region.
I am a 2nd year student working towards an M.S., and have been an active member of GPSS for the QERM Program for the past year. My time in GPSS has introduced me to the way that representative democracy is realized for graduate students at UW, and I would enjoy the opportunity to further represent both my program and the graduate population at large by using my experience in the union. While I appreciate the importance of GPSS as a legislative body, it is clear that at times it cannot initiate change in the same way that is possible in UAW 4121, and for that reason I think it is important to experience this different environment of collective bargaining.
Like all graduate students, I often find that my time to participate in extracurricular is all too limited. Nevertheless, as a Region 1 Steward, I would allocate my time to attend as many monthly meetings as possible, as I believe that influence and understanding of these processes only comes with a constant dedication. I also understand that attending meetings is not the only requirement of stewards, and would get involved in working groups and union activities whenever my schedule permits.
Thank you for considering me as a Region 1 Steward for UAW 4121.
Ben Maldonato
No statement provided.
Marc Vrana
No statement provided.
STEWARD – REGION 3 (1 OPEN POSITION)
Kyle Kubler
No statement provided.
Mandy McCourt
I am part of the English department and would love to be more involved with both my own department and the Union at large. I am able and willing to be a contact point in my department and hope that this position will help me become more aware of nation-wide Union politics, as well as more equipped to deal with local issues on our UW campus. During my undergraduate education, I was the President of the College Democrats, so I have some experience with outreach, campaigning, recruiting, and management in political contexts. Furthermore, we worked closely with the College Republicans, so I have experience navigating issues from a nonpartisan perspective–a skill obviously crucial for effective Union politics. I look forward to volunteering my time again for a good and necessary cause, in this case, the enforcement of fair contract agreements for grad students here in Seattle. Thank you!
Andre Stephens
I am a fourth-year graduate student in the Department of Sociology. I am accepting nomination as a steward because I believe that my experience as an organiser in student-led movements and as a volunteer with social justice and human rights campaigns will benefit the ASEs of region 3. Several departments, my own included, have been or will be greatly impacted by ongoing cuts to student-worker positions. I feel the urgent need to assist the community of ASEs in organizing to resist these cuts and to combat job insecurity in the face of increasingly corporatist university administration. Grassroots mobilisation will be critical to this effort. I also believe that the union must forge institutional alliances with social justice movements on campus in a spirit of solidarity and collectivism. These relationships allow our union to have deeper grassroots reach across campus and ensure that we remain allies in struggles for equity and tolerance on campus. As a black international student, I want the stewardship of Region 3 to be a voice for fighting international and other student fees, against injustices facing marginalized folks, for divesting from private prisons and corporations that violate worker and human rights. It is also critical that we insist that the university administration be more accountable in its budgeting process, that it provide assurances that student-workers in good standing will have a modicum of job security and funding opportunities, and that it make demands on the legislature in Olympia that it not undermine the success of the state’s flagship by imposing cuts. I believe we can all agree on and work toward these platforms.