FGSW-CWA LOCAL 1104 BUSINESS AGENT ELECTION
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مزدور پہلے / LOS MIEMBROS PRIMERO / 以会员为先 / MEMBERS FIRST / 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's job is to make the contract real.
The BA's job is 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.
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 never hesitated to step up and do the work to make my role in the union a bridge between individualized member problems and collective union power.
Experience with drafting and bargaining a Collective Bargaining Agreement
Experience with drafting and bargaining a Collective Bargaining Agreement
Preston helped research, develop, and draft contract proposals during FGSW's first-contract campaign and participated directly in bargaining.
Labor Notes Bargaining Fundamentals
Association for Union Democracy Officer Workshop
Labor Notes Winning a Strong Contract I & II
Trained by leading union researchers
Trained by leading union researchers
Preston has received multiple trainings in strategic research from experienced labor researchers, learning how to investigate employers, identify pressure points, map relationships, and turn research into organizing strategy.
Northwestern University Graduate Workers Financial Analysis Training
Research Training from Nell Geiser, Maddox Wolfe, and Kate Diedrich
Democratizing Corporate Research Inaugural Workshop with Tom Juravich, Olivia Geho, and Andrew Gorry
Experience building FGSW's and Local 1104's contract enforcement strategy
Experience building FGSW's and Local 1104's contract enforcement strategy
Over the past year, I have treated the BA role as the contract-enforcement center of a rank-and-file union. I have led matters from intake through Step 2, prepared and brought matters to settlement talks or arbitration, drafted substantial Requests for Information and unfair-labor-practice filings, prepared for bargaining, and resolved many other matters before arbitration was necessary.
My record reflects what the position actually requires: turning a member’s problem into a documented case, a remedy, and, when necessary, a precedent. Members should evaluate candidates by the full enforcement record: Step 2 work, arbitration readiness, serious information demands, ULP preparation, bargaining preparation, and the ability to settle effectively rather than by titles or visibility alone. My goal is a fighting, member-led union in which rank-and-file workers are organized not only to win a contract, but to enforce it every day.
Selected to build Education Division Local 1104's contract enforcement strategy
Selected to build Education Division Local 1104's contract enforcement strategy
I have also refined the contract-enforcement strategy adopted by our Local and brought that organizing model into conversations across the Education Division of CWA Local 1104. I work with all Business Agents of the Local and Local leadership on contract enforcement, connecting bargaining demands to one-on-one organizing, member participation, and strong contract campaigning.
Experience supporting and advising the building of many different unions from scratch
Experience supporting and advising the building of many different unions from scratch
Preston has served as a Primary Organizer with the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, supporting emerging worker campaigns across consulting, technology, primary education, and higher education. In that role, he has helped workers move from individual workplace problems toward collective organization.
That experience complements my work as Business Agent. Effective representation is not simply resolving problems for members after they arise; it means recognizing patterns, turning contract enforcement into organizing opportunities, developing workers who can lead their coworkers, and building the organization necessary to win at the grievance table and the bargaining table. Preston brings experience doing that work both inside FGSW and alongside workers organizing new unions in other industries.
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. Provide training and education to stewards in rank-and-file struggle unionism to build shop-floor power
3. Provide training and education to 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's initiative to strengthen our contract enforcement with best practices. The Contract Digest, along with booklet-sized CBAs, further this effort.
4. Train tried and true methods to protect our most vulnerable workers
4. Train tried and true 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 and in control of members
5. Make union work visible to and in control of members
Publish short enforcement updates, track intake response goals, maintain public-safe grievance summaries, give members access to detailed, appropriately redacted case histories, and make sure members are leading decision makers in cases that affect them.
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