to CA legislators on higher ed labor abuses

To my assembly member and state senator:

I need you to explain something to me. How is it in a state where both houses of the legislature have Democratic majorities, community college districts are allowed to pay exorbitant salaries, many greater than the governor’s and some greater than the vice president of the United States, to administrators whose only qualifications seem to be their union-busting skills followed by their ability to line the pockets of board members contractor friends while simultaneously abusing their own expense accounts to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars?

If I just saw this happen at one school, it could be a fluke, but I have seen it at two different districts, Santa Clarita and Ventura. In the latter case, a corrupt, union-busting con man who abused his expense account and employees was paid handsomely to leave only to be replaced by a new chancellor who received a vote of no confidence from the faculty of the school we got him from and who is now using the budget crisis to try to gut our faculty contract.

I realize that during this era of republican fiscal abuse, cuts have to be made, but it seems to me that the most fraud and abuse is at the top, and those are the people who could absorb any cuts in pay or benefits more. I teach college part time in two different districts. I can’t go to the doctor because I don’t have health insurance. If I lose hours or my pay is cut, I can’t pay my most basic bills, and I already can’t pay my student loans. By contrast, a cut for most executives and administrators would mean putting off buying a new Hummer for a few months.

I would appreciate it if you asked the Ventura College Community College District exactly how they decide to hire chancellors since they have gotten two lemons in a row, and why my tax dollars are being spent to work against my interests.

You also need to tighten the laws and regulations on union busting. There should be no rollbacks of negotiated compensation until after a greater or equal percentage has been cut from management. Similarly, NO administrator should get a raise until every faculty member, including part timers, has health care.

Local school boards seem to be incapable of determining realistic compensation and restraints on administrators and need more legal guidance from you.

By adopting the amoral ethics of the corporate world, these parasites are teaching our students a lesson about what our society respects: suits who can game the system for themselves and their friends, not educators and students.

These kinds of things should not be happening in a state with a Democratic majority, and I’m sure if you can come up with a fix that was spending neutral, you could get that slab of beef in the governor’s mansion to sign it.