McVay, Annie – U of O: Candidate for Assistant Director

I'm running for Assistant Director of Higher Education. In both my union and community organizing I follow three principles: Intention, Solutions and Solidarity. We should always evaluate our words and actions and the words of others with intention in mind. Instead of only pointing out problems, we should identify and suggest solutions, and solutions must be equitable for all. And we always must focus on our goal of solidarity within our union and our communities.
I'm currently VP for Local 085 at UO (newsletter editor, previously). I formed the Local 085 Community Involvement Committee and am the elected Secretary with Eugene-Springfield Solidarity Network Secretary, our local Jobs With Justice branch. My goal is to facilitate better connections not only within our union, but within our communities. For the connections in our union, I want to plan more opportunities for our members across the state and seven public universities to meet and work collectively. I support our union's long term goal of supporting measures that tax the ultra wealthy, but I think we also should demand for tax reform that prioritizes the needs of workers. Our hard earned money should support social service and community programs and infrastructure, all of which help our union siblings, our communities, and ourselves.
Higher education should be accessible for all, not just the wealthy. The corporate model being forced onto public universities and public services throughout our state is not only jeopardizing our ability to work with dignity, but our futures. Our union has the best intentions, and we can come up with the solutions – Real solutions that work for us and the state of Oregon.