Letter from the President

SPRING 14

Dear Colleagues:

It is an honor to be elected FSU President.  I am currently serving on the bargaining team and have done so since 2007.  I have been on the Executive Committee since 2008.  I also served on the parking negotiations team over the past two years, and took over the FSU Presidency when Catherine Lynde was on sabbatical during the fall of 2012.

I have been at UMass Boston since 2000.   I am a labor economist, studying discrimination by gender and race as well as the working poor.  My interest in these research areas stems from my own work experience in low-paid food service and clerical work and from my family’s long history of ignoble jobs as coal miners,  sharecroppers and farm workers-- my parents picked grapes beginning when they were six and eight years old, and my mother was interned as a Japanese-American. 

I have worked my entire life on issues for women, minorities, and for workers, first as an activist and organizer when I was a teenager and then as an undergraduate in elected student government and as a paid Student Advocate.  As a graduate student, I worked on the gender pay equity lawsuit against the State of California for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).  I continue to work for labor unions across the country.  So it is a pleasure to work for my own union!

I know the frustrations a lot of faculty and librarians have with so few resources.  I hope to work with you on this issue so we have the resources we need.  I hope that you will become involved in the union.  There are plenty of ways:  run for Executive Committee, help during bargaining, or serve on a committee to work on one of the many important issues that affect you.  If you want to get involved, let us know!  We are here for you.  This union is only as strong as its membership is involved, so I hope you will voice your concerns and help us to rectify the problems.

Marlene Kim