We are writing to you as members of our union’s election committee to provide an update on our next scheduled election. As of 7:00pm PST, 8/29, the nomination period for the financial secretary position and stewardship positions has ended. At the closing time of the nomination period, only one candidate had accepted the nomination for financial secretary. Therefore, as we indicated in our previous email, we will be following the usual procedure established by other locals and declaring the sole candidate the winner by acclamation. Because no other candidates stand, we will not be holding our election.
Our new financial secretary is Lewis Picard, postdoc in PMA. We reproduce his candidate statement here:
I am a postdoc in PMA, and I’ve been at Caltech now for close to 1 year. I’m running for the position of Financial Secretary to ensure that our union dues are spent addressing the needs of union members and strengthening our union in preparation for the next round of contract negotiations. I previously served as Treasurer of the Harvard Graduate Students Union – UAW Local 5118, and I will bring that experience to bear in this role. I aim to make sure members have full access to transparent information about where their dues are going, and that everyone can democratically engage in the process of determining our spending priorities.
Please reach out to us at elections@cgpu.org with any questions about the voting or nomination process.
Jack Wilding, GSW in Geophysics
Michael Greklek-McKeon, GSW in Planetary Science
Sam Ponnada, GSW in Astrophysics