Dylan Kupsh for ASE Statewide Chair
Former UCSB Bargaining Team Member, Student Labor Action Project Organizing Member, Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine Organizing member, National Students For Justice in Palestine Steering Committee Member, Founding UC Divest Steering Committee Member
Reprioritizing the demands of our most marginalized members
Fighting for Palestine Liberation and UC/UAW Divestment
COLA4ALL: Cost-of-Living Adjustment, Cops Off Campus, Access Needs, Fee Remissions, Support for Parent Workers and More
Community-focused bargaining. No Sidebars or backroom deals
Hi, my name is Dylan Kupsh (he/him), and I’m a third-year PhD student in Computer Science running for ASE Statewide Chair with Rank and File for a Democratic Union and Reform UC-UAW. I was formerly the Santa Barbara Unit Chair and an active member of the International UAW reform caucus, Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD).
In the past years, our local’s administrative caucus, or majority party, has gradually consolidated authority, eliminating meaningful rank-and-file participation, moving decision-making behind closed doors, and conceding on key issues (like COLA, Access Needs, etc) faced by academic workers.
By contrast, I’m running for ASE Statewide Chair to return our union’s power to the membership and prioritize the demands of our most marginalized colleagues. I’m running to lead a union that will win, without concessions, a COLA4ALL contract that includes:
A Cost of Living Adjustment: Wage increases, tied to the housing market, that eliminate rent burden for all campus workers.
No Tiers: The highest-paid graduate worker makes around $15,000/year more than the lowest-paid. We need a simplified system that abolishes steps and brings everybody up to the highest payscale. No Step Tiers. No Appointment Length Tiers. No “Prestige Campus” Tiers. Abolish all tiers.
Appointment Guarantees: With the current contract, the UC has subjected departments to punitive austerity measures, decreasing employment percentages, increasing workloads, and cutting available appointments. We need centralized funding that guarantees 12-month employment contracts to all academic workers.
Cops Off Campus: The abolition of UCPD and removal of police from campuses. An end to the UC’s militarized response to student protest and constant surveillance of students and employees.
Divestment: Divestment of university finances from the oppression of Palestinians. Transitional funding for academic workers refusing to work under grants funded by military contractors.
Fee Remissions: Abolition of NRST, PDST, and other university fees for ALL academic workers. We shouldn’t have to pay to work at UC!
Support for Parent Workers: Full childcare reimbursement, increased parental leave, and dependent healthcare coverage.
And More!
To achieve these ambitious demands, our union must:
End Concessionary and Closed-Door Bargaining: All contract bargaining sessions must be open to all members, no exceptions. We must oppose sidebars and back-room, off-the-record negotiations between UC Administration and the bargaining team, or the pushing through major hasty decisions over academic breaks.
Build Joint Struggle: Building coalitions, communities, and solidarity with affinity organizations (like Students for Justice in Palestine, Environmental Justice organizations, graduate and undergraduate student associations, etc) across our campuses, incorporating their demands into our campaigns and strengthening each other in turn.
Taking Strategic Action: Our demands aren’t won through symbolic marches, speeches, and walking in circles. We need to take strategic action that engages our membership, while maximizing disruptive and material impact on UC.
These next three years represent a pivotal moment for our union. Will we recenter our demands around marginalized workers or will we continue the current leadership’s practice of paying lip service to their needs but then spinelessly bargaining them away?