March 15, 2012: The Hoffa administration is on the fast track toward trusteeship in Local 2010, the statewide local of clerical and allied services Teamsters at the University of California.

Formerly called CUE—the Coalition of University Employees—the 14,000-strong bargaining unit affiliated with the Teamsters in 2010 (thus the name Local 2010).

As Teamster Voice goes to press, no official decision on the trusteeship has been made, but the writing is on the wall. An official trusteeship hearing will start on March 17.

New Directions, a grassroots caucus of Local 2010 members, has called for the Hoffa administration to schedule an election within 100 days of any trusteeship.

Frustration is running high in Local 2010. Like public employees everywhere, Local 2010 members see their wages and working conditions under attack by the university.

Members have been kept in the dark for years, with officers operating in a shroud of secrecy. Some officers were elected back in 2008, others have simply been appointed.

Elections were promised repeatedly. Members were first told that bylaws had to be adopted. The next excuse was finishing bargaining with the university, which finally wrapped up (except for continuing negotiations at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab) last November. Again elections were promised, and postponed.

International Vice President Rome Aloise held a closed meeting with the Executive Board where he encouraged the board to request that the local be put into trusteeship.

Out of a potential membership of 14,000, just 3,800 belong to Local 2010. The rest pay an agency fee equal to 95 percent of dues.

New Directions has proposed an end to keeping the members in the dark, and revealing the results of a financial audit of their local union.

"If a trusteeship is imposed, it should be temporary and for the purpose of preparing a transition, not to further delay the election that we were promised would be held in 2011," New Directions said in a statement to Local 2010 members.

"After the election, the trusteeship should be lifted and the International Union representatives can continue to work with new leaders democratically chosen by the members to implement the changes in CUE. We welcome assistance from the International Union, but we don't want changes imposed by a trustee appointed from Washington, D.C.," the statement said.