Source:
Truthoutby: Seth Sandronsky
Concerns over faculty pay, benefits and students' classes have propelled a union organizing drive at the private Los Angeles Film School, where management is not pleased that a majority of staff want to join the California Federation of Teachers (CFT), AFL-CIO.
Some faculty members contacted the CFT on February 1, said Tema L. Staig, who teaches at the Los Angeles Film School. A few days later, about 65 percent of the 125-member faculty signed cards to authorize CFT representation, according to Peter Nguyen of the CFT.
Next, the CFT submitted the signed authorization cards to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency that oversees union election campaigns. Recently, the CFT finished four days of hearings with the NLRB to determine the parameters of the new proposed collective bargaining unit, Nguyen said.
Allegedly, Los Angeles Film School, management fired one instructor, Brandii Grace, and disciplined another, Celina Reising, for being involved in the union campaign to win collective bargaining representation with the CFT. Management fired Grace one week after promoting from course director of computer game design to chair of the department at the Los Angeles Film School, according to Nguyen and Staig.
Read more:
http://www.truthout.org/union-organizing-campaign-heats-up-los-angeles-film-school58247
(Photos: Celina Reising)