Daniel Navarro
Region 2 Representative

My name is Daniel Navarro and I accept my nomination as the Region 2 representative.  I’ve been tested in different CFI roles over the last seventeen years: as a steward and a rep, on the board and on bargaining committees.  I helped draft the bylaws of our new local so that we could get out from under trusteeship.  I might not have bothered: On the heels of 'organizing local' status came another takeover, in which our elected representatives were removed from office, sued in civil court, put through a sham union trial and expelled from membership… all for doing their jobs.
 
I’d still like to believe that a union's foremost job is to represent members and bargain the best possible contracts. But in the last two R2 bargaining cycles, CWA actively undermined our elected bargaining representatives and lowballed members. Despite international obstructionism, our bargaining team led by Marylou Aranguren set a new bargaining bar with salary steps and a 21% wage hike in the latest round.
 
Aranguren’s reward for a job well done? She was fired days before Christmas by temporary administrator Biggs Adams, who appears to have taken pains to prevent Aranguren from running for CFI president on the grounds that she failed to pay $1.90 - an inactive member fee supposedly incurred while she was bargaining our contract!
 
Labor unions are under assault from outsized external forces and undermined by short-sighted internal divisions that undercut our ability to pull off even what’s doable.  Not an optimist, I have a sober take on our obstacles.  A brand new court interpreter when CFI (and BACI) first signed affiliation agreements with CWA, I stepped up in support. Today, expedience rules the day at CWA. 
 
Together with Marylou for President, Juan Ramirez for Vice President, Delia Castro for Secretary and Katy Van Sant for Treasurer, I accept my nomination for Region 2 representative to build on the agenda started by our founding board in favor of strong statewide bargaining and legislative programs, equal access advocacy and a united professional workforce.