APC Leader to Work for Chancellor in Labor Relations

Charles Goetzl, President of Academic Professionals of California (APC), has announced he'll be taking a position in labor relations at the Chancellor's Office. APC represents CSU employees in Unit 4. Those who have followed the CSU Board of Trustees meetings will recall that Mr. Goetzl's remarks to the Trustees have tended to be very conciliatory.

This is the letter sent out to APC:

From: Charles Goetzl
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 2:45 PM
To: APC Colleagues
Subject: a personal transition

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For IMMEDIATE distribution to Unit 4.
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Dear Colleagues,

I've been privileged to serve as APC President for the past 12 years. These years have been among the most challenging and rewarding of my life, both personally and professionally. For the past few weeks, however, I’ve been weighing several options about my own future, and I’m writing to share with you the path I’ve decided to pursue, a decision reached just two days ago.

I’ve been offered and have accepted a two-year appointment working for the CSU Chancellor’s Office in the area of labor relations. Specifically, I’ll be assigned to work with CSU labor consultant Richard Barnes and his associates in three areas:

(1) assisting in the development and delivery of campus-based trainings to further the efforts already initiated in building a collaborative approach to labor relations and to the resolution of employment-related issues;

(2) assisting in the mediated resolution of as many as possible of the large number of backlogged cases, so that this impediment to building even greater momentum for positive change in labor relations is minimized as quickly as possible; and

(3) supporting the CSU's commitment to the consistent interpretation and application of labor contracts in the University by initiating a new shared labor-management resource, namely online interpretive versions of CSU's collective bargaining agreements developed collaboratively by the University and the unions.

As a result of having accepted this appointment, I will not be running for an APC office in our upcoming election. I look forward to serving the remainder of my term as President (which will end in early May) and to working with the incoming APC statewide officers to provide a smooth transition. Because I only reached my decision not to run the day before the nomination deadline for statewide officers, the APC Election Committee has extended that deadline. Nominations and candidate statements now must be received by the Committee no later than February 29.

Whatever I've thought of including in this message seems so inadequate to reflect how much my involvement in APC over the past 17 years, the interactions I've had with so many of you, and the relationships I've made have meant to me. It's extremely difficult for me to leave APC. In fact, making this move is, in some ways, quite scary for me. But I'm also really excited about the new challenges before me and the opportunity to continue--albeit in a different role--to contribute to the CSU. Throughout all my years of participation in APC, I've been passionately committed to doing all I can to improve the labor relations process in the CSU. And that commitment isn't going to change one bit.

Thanks again so much for all the encouragement and support that you've given me through the years. It's been a distinct honor to represent and work on behalf of such a tremendous group of dedicated educators.

In union and gratitude,

Charles