Twelve candidates compete for seven board positions

Linus Shentu, News Editor

Twelve candidates are competing for seven positions that are up for grabs in the PCC Faculty Association board elections.

Running for president are professor Rod Foster and professor Roger Marheine.

“As the Lead Negotiator, I learned that a union is as strong as its solidarity based on principles of unity campus wide,” says Marheine’s candidate statement.

According to Foster, “Roger is a great guy, we just have different philosophies.” Foster said that he’ll be “taking advantage of the opportunity to forge a collaborative relationship with the district.”

Vying for vice president will be the state part-time union representative and Adjunct Professor Preston Rose and Assistant Professor Debra Wood. Running for Secretary will be Julie Kiotas and Kay Yee.

Unopposed will be Danny Hammond for treasurer.

Richard Beyer, Jane Hallinger, Tony Juge, Tim Melnarik and Krista Walter will all be competing for director which has three slots open.

Voting has begun for PCC’s Faculty Association and the deadline for union members to turn in their ballots is this Tuesday at noon.

Meanwhile, the California Teachers Association has recently filed a complaint against the PCCFA for non-payment of membership dues.

PCC’s teacher’s union broke away from the CTA last year and formed the newly independent PCCFA.

According to Marheine, the CTA is filing the complaint because: “We had not collected the money they demanded. We felt it was it was fair to collect less money than the CTA wanted.”

According to Kiotas: “[CTA] was not helping us in our negotiations. That is why we went independent.”