MERGE!!! ARE YOU NUTS??

By: David Yancey, FA AFT 6157 President

In one of the most extraordinary Community College Council meetings I have ever attended the “committee of the whole” had an intellectual discussion that was worthy of our status as educators. An intellectual discussion about the propriety of merging the CCC (Community College Council) of the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) and their California Teachers Association (CTA) equivalent-the CCA (Community College Association), is as surrealistic as that might sound given Prop 92 campaign. None in the convention hall had forgotten the bitterness we felt with the defeat of Prop 92, partially at the hands of the CTA and our brethren in the CSU system. To talk of forgiving was outrageous but to talk of merging, bordering on traitorous.

The discussion, led by our CCC President Carl Friedlander, was emotional, passionate and reasoned. We often disagreed and many had varying levels of outrage to express but the tone was remarkably respectful. The speakers ranged from the veterans of CFT and the CCC who educated the rest of us with the history of past attempts at mergers of unions in general and others of the past attempts by both the CFT and CTA to work together. At the end of the debate I and I think most others felt we had all participated in an important moment in our union’s history.

President Friedlander was masterful in his typical style of openness and a willingness to hear and respect all points of view. To his credit he never seemed offended by those whose umbrage at the idea seemed directed at our leadership. He was thoughtful, open and clearly broadening his own perspective as his union brothers and sisters expressed their views pro and con.

Most impressive was the collective wisdom that emerged. Most argued it was an impossibility to merge these two organizations believing we would lose the best of who we are in the CCC and perhaps be over shadowed by what we thought was the worse of the CCA. The general feeling was that in the CCC we are much more democratic, “bottom up in our style of decision making” versus the CCA style of “top down”.

However, as the discussion morphed into strategies, pros and cons, individual action versus the collective power of a combined union, it became apparent to all in attendance that the wisdom of merging could definitely have its advantages. We, the CCC and the CCA, share many common goals and needs and we share a common pool of the population as students.  Together we could present a unified front for higher education in California. If Prop 92 taught us anything it was that when the educational voice is divided we all fail.

So as the ideas rebounded and our collective wisdom began to take shape a motion was made and passed unanimously that we should authorize our President and his executive team to hold some preliminary discussions with our colleagues in the CCA. Will it work? Who knows? But it is clear we would all “BE NUTS” not to at least evaluate the potential.