Voting will begin May 28 and end June 6 at 5pm. Ballots will be sent via email.
Ben Cushing – President
Over the past two years, we won a historical contract, with nationally significant gains in job security, schedule autonomy and life-changing raises. But our organizing efforts didn’t just get us a contract. We built a new kind of union; one that is more democratic, participatory and courageous.
My name is Ben Cushing. I’m a full time faculty member in sociology. I’ve worked at PCC for 15 years, and I plan to continue doing so for the rest of my career. Like all of you, and unlike so many of our climbing upper managers, I am deeply committed to this college.
I believe that we are in a crucial moment in the history of this institution and higher ed. For decades, we’ve watched as college leaders built a corporate model of higher education. Top down management and adjunctification rose together. Workers and students alike got stuck with shrinking power and growing debt.
Solutions will not come from corporate consultants. They will come from us; grounded in our many perspectives, lived experiences, and our shared commitment to our students and communities. I believe that solutions can only be built through democratic process within our union and at PCC.
As FFAP President, I will prioritize deepening our democratic process and building strategic relationships with other unions and community organizations in order to increase our capacity to fight for and win big things.
Teachers in Chicago and Los Angeles have shown us that we can use our collective power to win for our communities. What would it mean for FFAP to bargain for the common good? Free tuition? Free meals for students? Education for and by the community? I don’t know the answer.
Grounded in a commitment to radically democratic practices and cultivating ever more broad-based participation, we’ll have to answer those questions together.
Michael Annus – VP for Grievance/Contract Administration – AP
This coming June marks my third year as the VP for Grievance and Contract Administration for APs and it’s been a little intense. I’ve worked on a range of issues, shepherded multiple grievances through the process, represented fellow APs in investigatory meetings, and have had many one-on-one conversations with fellow APs about their issues and concerns. I was a member of our contract bargaining team over the last year and I’m currently a member of our Contract Administration team, Grievance Committee, Executive Committee, and like all leadership, I am on our Executive Council. It’s been a challenging three years and I’ve learned a lot. Along with many disappointments, we’ve had many successes.
If I’m reelected to this position, I’ll most look forward to putting our new contract into practice and pushing for the flexibility we all need to do our best work. Dialogue, collaboration, and building connections are key and I’ll also look forward to continuing to my involvement with our member outreach and education efforts so that we all can understand our contract and our rights as well as possible.
Julie Hastings – Secretary
In 2022, I started my candidate’s statement for FFAP Secretary with these words: “I believe that our union is on the verge of making historic gains in the next round of contract negotiations.” I am so proud of our amazing union – leaders and rank-and-file members alike – for making this prediction a reality!
I am running for reelection as Secretary not to bask in our accomplishments but to continue to build on the gains we made toward Part Time Faculty job security, respect for AP’s professional autonomy, shared governance, and the wages and benefits we all deserve.
At the end of my fifth year on the Executive Council, I am in a sweet spot: still bringing fresh eyes and energy but with the added confidence and insight that comes from experience.
- 5 years on the FFAP Executive Council
- 2 years as PCCFFAP Secretary
- member of FFAP committees:
- Executive Committee (5 officers advising the President)
- Federation Nominations and Elections (FNOMNEL) Committee
- Organizing Committee
- Oversight and Bylaws Committee
- 3 years as PCCFFAP Nominations and Elections Officer
- represented FFAP at the International COCAL (Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor) Conference – Querétaro, Mexico, August 2022
- Member Organizer 2019-2020
- 100s of conversations with members and potential members including APs, full time and part time faculty at all 4 campuses
- increased union membership and recruited leaders
- AFT-Oregon
- Delegate to AFT-Oregon State Convention 2021 and 2023
- Presidents Conference Fall 2019
- Portland Jobs with Justice activist and Workers Rights Board member since 2009
It would be an honor to continue as Secretary of PCCFFAP. I appreciate your vote and your participation in this democratic process. We are stronger together!
Michelle DuBarry – VP for Communications
I am passionate about democracy in the workplace and I believe in the power of the labor movement to create a better PCC and a more just world. I have worked as a Grants Officer at PCC since 2009 and I joined the FFAP Executive Council in 2015. I have served as FFAP’s Vice President for Communications since 2016.
During this time I have transformed FFAP’s communication infrastructure from a one-way, top-down, email-based system to one where members are invited into union decision-making, and information is transparently communicated in a variety of formats. I chair a communications committee of faculty and APs who contribute their skills in everything from writing and editing to graphic design and social media. If you took a bargaining survey or read a bargaining update in 2023-24, it was probably written by me!
I served on FFAP bargaining teams in 2019, 2021, and 2023, and advocated forcefully for members to observe bargaining, including live-streaming via Zoom. I created and maintained the “issues tracker” document so members could read bargaining proposals as soon as they were introduced at the table. I am so proud of the contract we won in 2024, and I wrote about one of our key victories for Labor Notes.
I am a member of the Unite for Our Future caucus, a group of FFAP members who are working toward a vision of social, economic, and climate justice that expands beyond PCC.
I am committed to transparent, two-way communication that builds on the success of our recent contract campaign. If elected, I intend to fight for shared governance, manageable workloads, job security for part time faculty, and pay equity for all of our members. I would very much appreciate your vote!
Marianne Stupfel-Wallace – Nominations and Elections Officer
It’s an honor to run again for Nominations and Elections Officer. I learned so much when I first served in 2022. I want to continue to learn and grow in this position. One of my goals is to find ways to increase voter turnout by inspiring even more members to be active and engaged in our union. Elections with high levels of participation are crucial to a healthy democracy. This past year has shown how strong FFAP is when we all work and plan together. I am inspired by all of the actions from packing Board meetings to packing the Bargaining room to sending petitions that brought much needed changes. We broke that dam!
In my first two years as Nominations and Elections Officer, I did my best to create a smooth process. During this time I have:
- ensured timely responses to nominations and running smooth elections
- planned candidate forums with the Nominations & Elections Committee for contested elections to help members make informed decisions
- followed up with members with questions about their ballots
- worked with the Organizing Committee and the Contract Action Team to come up with strategies to increase voter turnout and engagement
Despite winning the strongest contract in recent history, there’s still a lot of work to do. For example, we need to work on meaningful shared governance. Shared decision making is critical because the faculty and academic professionals who directly serve our students have the most expertise. Everyone benefits when we have a healthy employee morale…especially our students. That’s why I want to run again as Nominations and Election Officer to continue the work of creating a brighter future. Let’s work together to create a better world. All of YOU are the union!
David Shultis – Organizing Officer
I am excited to ask for your vote for Organizing Officer in our union.
If elected, my work as Organizing Officer will focus on supporting others in our union. When organizing, I like to seek understanding before building power together. I want folx in our union to be able to rotate roles, engage at the level that best suits them, and use the union’s organizing power as a conduit to effect changes large and small.
For me, organizing is about making sure union spaces invite robust participation, honest discussion, and generative disagreement. Our union can be a model for non-coercive organizational power dynamics. If you’d like to know what that means to me, let’s grab coffee sometime.
About me: I have been at PCC since 2021. I am a Mental Health Counselor (full-time faculty) embedded within the Yes to College and Gateway to College programs. My work routinely brings me to Cascade, Southeast, and Sylvania. Along with an M.A. in Counseling Psychology, I hold a Post-Graduate Diploma in Modern and Contemporary Poetry from the University of Bristol, England. I received my B.A. from The Evergreen State College.
Organizing Experience: In Fall of 2023, I completed the Member Organizing Institute with AFT. Over the past year, I helped out with the Contract Action Team, the Solidarity Committee, and other organizing efforts.
At my previous employer, I was part of the organizing efforts towards a successful unionization election. I then served on the bargaining team (for a year and a half!) as we fought for and won a first contract.
I look forward to being a part of what comes next for PCCFFAP.
Solidarity forever,
David (he/him/his)
Nichole Reding – Solidarity Officer
It has been an honor to serve as Solidarity Officer and I would love to continue this important work. Solidarity, a camaraderie arising from common responsibilities and interests, is one of the central elements of a democratic union, and the key reason I have been an active member of FFAP since I started at PCC in 2020. I joined the CATs in its earliest days and was impressed with our amazing organizing team. I learned so much! I also served on the Communications Committee and appreciated the commitment to transparency upheld by this group.
I was appointed to the Solidarity Officer role during the peak preparations for our potential strike, and as this role is responsible for the strike fund, it felt like trial by fire. I supported our Solidarity Committee to build the strike fund through individual donations and by asking kindred organizations for support, and to develop a rubric for distribution of funds, which helps position us even more strongly for our future. In addition to the strike fund, I have helped shepherd the mutual aid fund and will continue to work hard to build this fund.
I’m also proud of our membership’s strong support of our sibling union, FCE. This type of solidarity work is at the core of what I hope to accomplish as a Solidarity Officer. I have worked hard to build relationships with other organizations such as PSU’s faculty and AP union, Jobs with Justice, and AFT, and will continue to do so. Solidarity within our union and across like-minded organizations will make us stronger.
Building strong relationships, learning from and with our membership and other organizations, and providing a strong foundation of mutual aid are key elements of how I would move forward in this role if elected. Thank you for your consideration.
Laura Wadlin – Lead Steward PT Faculty
No statement submitted
Dan Davis – Lead Steward FT Faculty
Hi everyone,
My name is Dan Davis and I am running for reelection as Lead Steward for full timers. During my time in this position, I’ve gotten to know many of you in this capacity. I have assisted in many organizing efforts in different departments, including my own. These have led to outcomes including improved or different managers, resolved grievances, and the strongest contract in PCCFFAP history. However, much more needs to be done. We need to keep the pressure on management to agree to formalized shared governance. We also need to remove all of the managerial bloat that’s been created in the past fifteen years in favor of full-time faculty and AP positions! Through organizing efforts, we can work together to win this and so much more.
I hope to serve you for another term.