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Mark Covington for Northern Vice President
Candidate Statement

I've worked at LBNL for 8 years, which has given me ample opportunity to see that clericals are at the bottom of management's priorities and that people of color are at the very bottom of management's list of concerns. Although statistics do not tell the whole story, I'll point out that at LBNL, members of ethnic minorities constitute 75% of the workforce at the AA I level, but only 28% at the AA III level. Discrimination on any grounds must come to an end at the University of California and the lab, and the only force working for this change in the clerical unit is CUE. This is the message that I took to Washington DC, where I recently visited Representative Barbara Lee and the Department of Energy (the federal agency overseeing LBNL) along with my co-worker Alyce Herrera.

My involvement in activities supporting employee rights includes the suit that I and several co-workers filed against lab management when we learned that the physical exams we were required to take were secretly aimed at identifying genetically-linked health conditions. Of course we were profoundly pleased when the U.S. 9th district court upheld our claim and LBNL was required to make restitution to thousands of employees.

As an alternate member of CUE's statewide bargaining committee, I've been appalled at the attitude of contempt that UC bargainers display. We represent 18,000 people and deserve the respect that this implies. Cue's priorities must include wages, fair work rule language, and many other contract issues which effect the day to day life of clericals. For too many years management has been allowed to call the shots, to set the agenda for us all. In CUE, we've made a promising start in changing these dynamics.

Membership has soared in CUE in recent months, approaching the high percentage of membership we enjoy at the lab. I believe this is largely because we keep people informed about what CUE is doing, and because we pay attention to the many communications we receive from clericals. We've been successful in involving hundreds of our coworkers in our legislative campaigns, and I look forward to continuing to work on building Cue's legislative presence.

If these issues are important to you, I urge that you vote for the following candidates:

• President: Claudia Horning
• Vice President: Debbie Ceder for the South and me for the North
• Treasurer: Elinor Levine
• Chief Steward: Craig Alderson

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Last updated July 4, 2000.