FGSW-CWA LOCAL 1104 BUSINESS AGENT ELECTION
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مزدور پہلے / LOS MIEMBROS PRIMERO / 以会员为先 / सदस्य-प्रथम
Graduate workers need a Business Agent who is reachable, prepared, serious about contract enforcement, and accountable to you. Our CBA expires in June 2027. The contract campaign will grow from our strong contract enforcement since FGSW's first grievance campaign.
WHY I AM RUNNING AGAIN
The BA role works to make the contract real.
The BA role works to make the contract real.
A contract is only as strong as our ability to enforce it. When members face funding cuts, appointment problems, pay issues, tuition charges, workload violations, benefits confusion, retaliation, or unclear answers from the University, the union has to investigate, document, escalate, and organize.
This election is not symbolic.
The next Business Agent will help decide whether FGSW enters the year before contract expiration with strong records, trained stewards, mapped departments, and a clear enforcement strategy - or whether we spend the year rebuilding systems we already started.
PROVEN BA EXPERIENCE
I have already done the work members need from a Business Agent.
I have already done the work members need from a Business Agent.
As Business Agent, former Chief Steward, and founding member, I have treated the role as a bridge between individual member problems and collective union power.
Experience working many different unions
Experience working many different unions
Preston has been a Primary Organizer with the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee for a number of nascent campaigns in the consulting, tech, primary education, and higher education industries.
Experience building FGSW's and Local 1104 contract endorsement strategy
Experience building FGSW's and Local 1104 contract endorsement strategy
Led grievances from intake through formal steps and arbitration preparation, using member statements, contract language, deadlines, and follow-up to challenge violations. Also prepared Unfair Labor Practice charge materials during bargaining. Selected to share this experience with Local 1104.
Experience with drafting and bargaining a Collective Bargaining Agreement
Experience with drafting and bargaining a Collective Bargaining Agreement
Orga
Trained by leading union researchers
Trained by leading union researchers
Led grievances from intake through formal steps and arbitration preparation, using member statements, contract language, deadlines, and follow-up to challenge violations.
THE 2027 CONTRACT FIGHT
Our CBA expires in June 2027. The campaign starts now.
Our CBA expires in June 2027. The campaign starts now.
We cannot wait until bargaining begins to build power. The year before expiration is when we should collect issues, update department maps, train stewards, track violations, identify recurring management arguments, and prepare an escalation plan.
Department issue collection
Contract compliance tracker
Steward and member-leader trainings
Orientation and rights education
Strategic research and employer pressure research
Communication and turnout infrastructure
Public-safe enforcement updates
Member mapping before bargaining
Experience matters because timing matters.
Experience matters because timing matters.
The next BA should not spend the year before contract expiration learning what the role is. We need someone who already knows the contract, the grievance process, the open enforcement issues, the departments that need attention, and the records we need to win more.
NEXT TERM PLATFORM
What Preston will do next
What Preston will do next
1. Enforce the CBA - every violation, every time.
Track and challenge problems involving funding, workload, appointments, tuition, benefits, classifications, pay, protected activity, and international-worker protections. Pursue every grievance as required by our membership as I have done since I filed the first union grievance to stop the termination of the Graduate Student Council GAships.
2. Build the 2027 contract campaign early
2. Build the 2027 contract campaign early
Collect issues department by department, connect grievances to bargaining demands, and prepare members for coordinated action before expiration. The Bargaining Survey is a major step in this effort.
3. Train stewards in rank-and-file struggle unionism to build shop-floor power
3. Train stewards in rank-and-file struggle unionism to build shop-floor power
Scale up steward training so more workers can identify violations, organize collectively, and move from isolated complaints to collective wins. This is in line with the Local 1104 initiative to strengthen our contract enforcement with best practices. The Contract Digest, along with booklet-sized CBAs, further this effort.
4. Work on methods to protect our most vulnerable workers
4. Work on methods to protect our most vulnerable workers
Force transparency around appointment terms, workload reporting, employment verification, compliance practices, visa-related job security, benefits access, leave and re-entry problems.
5. Make union work visible to members
5. Make union work visible to members
Publish short enforcement updates, track intake response goals, maintain public-safe grievance summaries, allow member access to detailed redacted history of files, and make sure members know what their union is doing.
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