Online Voting Is Here!
For many years, Chapter 262 members have expressed interest in being able to vote online for contract ratifications, chapter officer elections, delegate elections, or other voting activities. Because our Chapter Constitution had no provisions for online voting, CSEA 262 leadership could not offer online voting.
Those days are gone! With your ratification of the revisions to the Chapter 262 Constitution, we can now bring you online voting, and we are staring with next week's ratification vote for the tentative agreements reached during negotiations with the District, which were interrupted by the urgency of the Health Benefit transition.
Online voting is a relatively new option for CSEA and Chapter 262. The ratification of these tentative agreements provides an opportunity to test the process and ensure voting goes smoothly. The vote will be simple since it is a simple "yes" or "no" type of vote — accept or reject the TAs. Along with the online voting, however, we will be implementing the new language in the Constitution governing the process.
When the voting begins, you will receive a personalized e-mail message with your login and password to access the online balloting system. You will cast your vote and submit the ballot. You can only login once, so if you exit before casting your vote, you will not be able to vote again. If you want to vote using the traditional paper ballot, you must request a paper ballot via e-mail to the Elections Chair Zak Gallegos no later than three days prior to the close of the poles. This information will also be included in the e-mail announcement.
Speaking of Which . . .
Chapter 262 Members are reminded to attend an informational meeting to allow for questions about Tentative Agreements reached between CSEA Chapter 262 and the Mt. SAC District. Please read the TAs prior to the information meeting so you can actively participate in ratifying these agreements. Once you ratify them, the agreements will be sent to the Board of Trustees for acceptance at their December meeting.
Potential members will be able to participate in the informational meeting, but will not be permitted to vote. If you are a potential member and wish to participate in future contract ratification votes, Chapter Elections (coming in December!), or other Chapter business requiring member votes, then please visit the Chapter 262 web site and click “JOIN” for information about joining Chapter 262 (https://www.csea262.org/join).
CONTRACT RATIFICATION INFORMATION MEETING
Tuesday 12 November 2019
10am and 2pm
Design Tech Auditorium 13–1700
VOTING BY ONLINE BALLOT
Opens: Wednesday 13 November 2019
Closes: Wednesday 23 November 2019
Mounties CAN Food Drive
Remember our CSEA mission is "To improve the lives of our members, students, and community." Mt. SAC has many students struggling with homeless and food insecurities. Some of our students live out of their vehicles. Some do not know if and when their next meal will come. You can help make our students' lives better by either donating non-perishable food items to one of the food drive boxes on campus or by having your department sponsor a donation box.
Mt. SAC's Homelessness and Basic Resources Committee (HBRC) is hosting a week-long series of events as part of a nation-wide program aimed at raising awareness to the problems of hunger and homelessness. Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week (HHAW) is an annual program where people come together across the country to discuss these issues. The HBRC is hosting activities during the week of November 18–22.
The HBRC is inviting Mt. SAC programs and departments to be part of our “Mounties CAN” food drive. Our goal is to collect as many canned/non-perishable food items to provide to Mt. SAC #RealCollegeStudents experiencing food insecurity. If you are interested in hosting a food drive box in your program/department, a box will be provided to you on November 15 so it can be displayed in a high traffic area starting on November 18. We ask that each program/department engage with your respective students and staff and encourage them to donate canned goods during HHAW. Donations will be collected from your area on Friday, November 22 by members of the HBRC.
Some general guidelines are as follows:
Only donate items that you would want to eat
Check that the items are still within the “use by” date
Avoid glass items which can easily break
If you are interested in hosting a food box for our Mounties CAN food drive, please reply to Rigo Estrada at restrada15@mtsac.edu by 3pm on Tuesday, 12 November so arrangements are made and follow up instructions can be provided.
We thank you in advance for your collaboration and willingness to support our Mounties in need. Together, Mounties CAN!
Veterans Day: Honor Those Who Served
Veterans Day is more than just a holiday. Veterans Day, November 11, is a day we honor those who served their country in the armed forces. It is a time to express gratitude and give thanks, during this month of Thanksgiving, to those veterans and their families who made sacrifices to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States and the freedoms we all enjoy under it.
On Veterans Day, we honor the brave men and women throughout history who fought in battles, served in the National Guard and the reserves or were stationed on a base, stateside or overseas, and did their part to protect the safety and rights of Americans. Many military veterans have returned from service and are now employed in California’s public schools as classified school employees.
Many veterans also serve here at Mt. SAC. For example, Board of Trustees member Jay Chen is currently serving after being called up from the reserves and deployed to the Middle East. Mt. SAC and our Chapter 262 has a number of classified employees who are also veterans.
Are you a veteran? Would you like to share your story with CSEA and your classified colleagues across the state? CSEA invites all members who are veterans or currently serving in the military reserves to contact CSEA by sending your name, chapter number, and member number to veterans@csea.com. If you want to share but don’t know your member number, you can contact any CSEA Chapter 262 leader and ask, and we will get that information to you.
We sincerely thank you for your service!
Your “Smile” Contributes to CSEA Members Assistance
You now have another way to donate to CSEA members in need. When you shop at Amazon Smile, 0.5% of your purchases can go towards the CSEA Assistance Fund. It doesn’t add any cost to your purchase, because the money is donated by Amazon.
For example, your purchase of $100 from Amazon will generate 50¢ toward the Member Assistance fund. That doesn’t sound like much for you, but if you consider there are more than 200,000 CSEA members, if they all used Amazon and spent 100 dollars, that would generate more than $100,000 for the Assistance Fund. That is some serious contributions for needy members, and your donation is at no additional costs to you since Amazon is donating the cash.
To designate the CSEA Assistance Fund as your Amazon Smile charity, follow the directions below. After that, be sure to always go to smile.amazon.com instead of amazon.com. That way you will automatically make a donation each time you make a purchase. You can even track how much you have donated towards the Assistance Fund. If you want to participate in the Amazon Smile CSEA Member Assistance program:
Go to https://smile.amazon.com
Log in if you have an Amazon account or create an account
Search for CSEA Assistance Fund
Select CSEA Assistance Fund, location San Jose
Make your purchase!
Enjoy this video of the Humanitarian Committee; First Vice President, Shane Dishman, Second Vice President, Adam Weinberger, Association Secretary, Monica Han and Past President, Allan Clark, as they are getting ready for the holiday season with Amazon Smile.
