|
|
|
|||||
|
I thank President Casteen for his comments. My job as the president of SUUVA is to make the University administration aware of any incidents such as this and to be the representative of employees. SUUVA is an advocate for all classified staff, not just union members. If UVA had opened a dialogue with the union a year ago, where we could have had a working relationship, none of this publicity would have been necessary. I to too am saddend by this whole incident, but today others have come forward to me about racial incidents which not many knew about. It doesn't really matter in what context this word was used. This is not an isolated incident I have learned. It is a pattern that takes place day after day. It must stop. I will continue to inform the UVA administration about racism, discrimination, mistreatment of employees by managers, and retaliation issues until UVA is a safe place to work for everyone of every race. I ask that classified staff be appointed to be on the Diversity Committee that has recently been started by the BOV. Classified staff at UVA is 12,000 people. Why they are not represented on this committee is beyond me. SUUVA/CWA will continue to work toward making UVA a great place to work for everybody. I hope UVA will open a dialogue with SUUVA in order to make this happen. It is the only way for UVA employees to finally have a voice in the workplace and in the community. Jan Cornell (electronic mail, November 23, 2003)
|
