Voter Revolt 2015

Issues with the Union

Dear teachers, it is time for you to vote responsibly. I am asking you to vote for
change. When you vote, ask yourself this question: What has my union done for
me in the past seven years? In this letter, I explain the attached PowerPoint and
issues with our union.
In the slide titled: First year salary in a 20 miles radius. A comparison of
the how different neighboring districts pay by salary column. If you notice Fontana
teachers are the lowest paid!!! If you question the union, they will tell you
LIES and more LIES.
Here is lie #1 from the union: In other districts, teachers pay out of pocket for
health benefits. If you notice, in the slide, teachers at Rialto Unified District make
more money than you do, and they pay nothing out of pocket for health
benefits!!!!!!!!!!!! If you dont believe this call Rialto human resources and ask.
Here is lie #2 from the union: The salaries level off after a period of time
(salaries become equal). This is not true. I will send you the salary schedule for
Rialto unified district and Fontana unified district, so that you can compare.
In the slide titled: Union Secretarys Salary Increase vs. Fontana
Teacher Salary Increase. Here you will see that the union paid a secretary a
salary increase of 11.3% in 2012 and in 2013 the union paid the secretary a salary
increase of 9.11%. Also, the union paid an 11.3% salary increase to an admin
assistant and in 2013, 14.73% salary increase. Sadly Teachers got a 0% salary
increase in 2012 and in 2013 teachers got a meager 3.25%. The union is willing
to pay big salary increases with your money to these staff, but they are
not willing to fight for a decent salary for you!!! By the way the admin.
assistant made in 2014 $74,313, and the secretary (I believe has a different title
called membership supervisor) made $65,391. What is appalling is that the union,
in 2014, collected $1,940,720.57 from you, but only spent $1,141 in negotiation
expenses. The stipend for the negotiating team was $4,025. Not enough
resources are spend in negotiating the teachers contract. This is
wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The slide title: 2006-2014 CPI Inflation Rates compares the national
inflation rate to Californias inflation rate. If you compare the salary of teachers of
Rialto Unified School District and the salary of teachers at Fontana Unified School
District, you will see that Rialto teachers salaries have kept up with inflation, but
the salary of teachers at Fontana have not!!!!!!!!!!! We have teachers working

two jobs to maintain their families because our union has not been able to
negotiate a decent salary!!!!!!!!!!!!
(For this section, see the salary schedule for Fontana Unified School District and
Rialto Unified School District). A beginning teacher at Rialto makes about $48,296,
and pays no out of pocket in benefits and a beginning teacher at Fontana makes
$42,339. There is a difference of 5,957 (You are losing money every year). Think
about how $5,957 adds up overtime. This money can send your children to college,
you can save for a down payment on a house, or you can put it into a retirement
account. Compare the salaries of Rialto Unified School District and Fontana Unified
School District.
Another issue with our union is that they do not have channels of
communication. If you are not an elected union member (a building rep. for
example), you are not allowed to speak. When teachers show up to discuss issues,
the president shuts them down by arguing that they cannot speak because they are
not elected members. This violates the union rules (bylaws), and freedom of
speech. This needs to change immediately.
There are reports that the union does not file grievances on time, and so
teachers lose their opportunity to defend themselves. This situation needs to stop.
I strongly believe in the right of workers to organize, but sadly our union
leadership is too incompetent. Teachers wake up!!!!

Vote for the following candidates for a better

future:
Keri C. Bernstine (president), Elsa N. Rivera (vice president),
Jose Pineda (treasurer), and Sharon Curcio (high school
director)
If you have any questions, please contact the candidates at the following e-mails:
.

Candidates
Keri C. Bernstine:
Elsa N. Rivera:
Jose Pineda:
Sharon Curcio:

E-mails
dancingnumbers@yahoo.com
elsarivera27717@yahoo.com
future2015@msn.com
sharon.curcio@ca.rr.com