David Albert for ACC AFT President

02/24/2022

So I've been meaning to post the good news here for those who haven't heard. I won the vote for ACCAFT President with 68% of the vote. The Swearing-In Ceremony is being scheduled. I think it will be in late March. All are invited, of course.

01/31/2022

Our local has been going through a very difficult period. Honestly, this election campaign has been divisive. Moreover, it has been occurring against the background of a dark pandemic within a deeply divided country. With your support, I hope to win this election and then we can bring this local together around a new progressive agenda that seeks to build a better ACC.
What does that mean? It means an activist approach to labor organizing. We need to mobilize our membership and rebuild member solidarity. I’ve attended just about every union meeting for the last decade, and I can hardly remember a meeting in recent years with more than a dozen members. I’m going to ask YOU to do more for your union and with your labor brethren. We need to mobilize our membership if we are going to achieve our goals as a union. I appreciate that you pay your union dues, but if I win, I will ask you to consider donating a little more of your precious time or money to the union. Can you do one or more of the following?
1) Serve on a union committee;
2) Accompany another member to grievance meeting;
3) Write an article for our newsletter;
4) Promote our messaging in the media or on social media;
5) Sit at a table on your campus for a few hours to recruit new members;
6) March in the MLK or Juneteenth parade behind a union banner;
7) Volunteer for a pro-Labor union-backed candidate;
8 ) Speak at an ACC Board Meeting, an ISD Board or City Council Meeting, or a Legislative hearing on a topic of critical importance for workers;
9) Participate with other union members in a local community service project like a food bank; or
10) Increase your monthly donation to our COPE fund so we can support pro-Labor candidates for the ACC Board of Trustees;
I hope to win this election, but I’m telling you right now that there is very little that I can accomplish alone. I will need your help. It isn’t your fault that we haven’t been engaged in these types of activities as a local. No one has been asking. Recently, you’ve gotten very little communication from your union. I will promise that I will communicate with you a lot more as President. You will be hearing from me regularly, hopefully, on a weekly basis. And I will be telling you about opportunities in our community and asking for your help.
If you voted for me last time or if you didn’t, please stand with me now. Stand for justice now and we will fight together for a stronger union and a better ACC. "Justice, Justice, you shall pursue" (Deuteronomy 16:20). This remains my credo and my promise to you. Questions? Please contact me directly at: (512)587-6981 or [email protected] or
https://www.facebook.com/David-Albert-for-ACC-AFT-President-102890722304754

This is a campaign website for David Albert's campaign for President of ACC/AFT

01/21/2022

I need your help in the new election for ACC AFT President. Details below.

01/21/2022

My union brothers and sisters,
We are holding a second election for ACC/AFT President. We are holding this election even though I won the first election last October. But you were intentionally never informed of the margin. I won that election overwhelmingly 65-36 (that’s 64%, a landslide victory). In December, you were informed that the election result was overturned, that your votes were effectively disenfranchised and that we’d have to go through this exercise again. That also meant that the previously scheduled Swearing-in would be delayed, and the next President’s term would be shortened. You were never told why. The results were overturned on a technicality. A member of the Elections Committee (who was not playing any active role in administering the election or counting the votes) sent an email on my behalf. The person who did so had no idea that this action violated any rules since the Local had not provided an election code. If he had known, he obviously wouldn’t have made this innocent mistake. No one that I’m aware of seriously argued that his mistake changed outcome.
So why are we doing this? Because certain people are willing to take extraordinary efforts to prevent me from becoming President. I can’t really tell you what their motives are. You will need to ask them to explain. I can tell you that they want to stop me from winning, because my platform (at accaft.org) represents a genuine change in the direction of this Local which an overwhelmingly majority of those who voted last time clearly wants to see. My opponent represents continuity with how this local has been operating and I represent a new progressive activist direction.
Members keep telling me that they want to see a local which fights for them and their priorities. I have done this repeatedly. Last August, I was only person who showed up to demand the Board of Trustees enact a mask mandate. I held no official position in the Local at the time and Local took no public position. I then worked with Board members and County officials to make sure that a mask mandate, which is in place to this day, was enacted. I believe we saved lives in doing so. I can only smile when I look out at my classrooms full of masked faces.
I want a union local that fights for you. I want a local that fights for structural changes at ACC, which fights for better pay, benefits, promotions and working conditions for all of us. Currently, our local tries to help you when you face an individual grievance situation, but it does very little to challenge the structures of oppression at ACC. If you voted for me last time or if you didn’t, please stand with me now. Fight for justice and we will fight on together for a better ACC. "Justice, Justice, you shall pursue" (Deuteronomy 16:20). This remains my credo and my promise to you.
Questions? Contact me at: (512)587-6981 or [email protected]