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May Day Labor Film Festival

• SPEAKER BIOS • 2003

Paul Ortiz is Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Studies at UC Santa Cruz where he teaches courses on comparative social movements, the African Diaspora, and the history of democracy. He is a member of the UCSC Faculty Association and the American Federation of Teachers. His work in the labor movement began when he walked the picket line with the Greyhound bus drivers in their 1990 strike. He served as a volunteer boycott organizer with the United Farm Workers of Washington State during their boycott of Chateau Ste. Michelle Wines which led to the first-ever union contract for Washington farm workers in 1995. Paul is co-author of Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell About Life in the Jim Crow South.

Cathy Deppe is the Bay Area Chapter Coordinator and national board member for 9 to 5, National Association of Working Women, the nation's largest non-profit membership organization of working women, now celebrating its thirtieth year. Central goals of the organization are to work to end discrimination based on race, gender, or sexual orientation; to promote family-friendly policies in the workplace by pushing forward such legislation as FMLA and ENDA; to support and act as a resource for individual women who are experiencing workplace harassment; and to address issues of welfare and temporary/contingent labor on a national level. Deppe, a long-time activist and teacher in San Jose, has worked with 9 to 5 since 1993. www.9to5.org

Lisa Gustafson is the president of the Coalition of University Employees (CUE) Local 10. She also acts as coordinator of the CUE Grievance Committee. She has worked as a Payroll Personnel Coordinator at UCSC for the last three years.

Julie Jacobs is an at-large steering committee member of CUE Local 10 and works on fostering campus union solidarity by acting as a liaison between CUE and University Labor UnitedÑa coalition of campus unions. She also represents CUE on the Women's Center Policy Board. She has worked at UCSC for three years as Assistant to the Director and as a post-graduate researcher for the Center for Justice, Tolerance, and Community at UCSC and is also an alum, graduating in 1997 with a BA in Latin American & Latino Studies.

Becky Klein is currently the Secretary for CUE Local 10. Becky was the chair of the CUE Strike Organizing Committee and was instrumental to the success of last fall's strike. Becky is a Financial Assistant for the UCSC Baskin School of Engineering and has been on campus for two and a half years.

Pat True is treasurer for CUE Local 10 and is also coordinator of the CUE media committee. He has worked as an Assistant Coordinator of the Copier Program at UCSC for the last year and a half.

Tia Lessin has been twice nominated for an Emmy during her more than thirteen year career in social-issue documentary television and film. She was Supervising Producer for Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine.As a daughter of immigrants, she was concerned about the effects of September 11 on the Muslim community and used her video talents to focus attention on discrimination and mistreatment of immigrants of Middle Eastern descent for NPR and the ACLU. Lessin witnessed an historic meeting of two great animal mascots at Disney World: Mickey Mouse and Crackers, Moore's Corporate Crime Fighting Chicken. Lessin and Crackers were escorted away in handcuffs by Disney people for asking questions of theme park guests.

Carmencita "Chie" Abad spent six years working under wretched sweatshop conditions as a garment worker on the Pacific island of Saipan, in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Marianas. Her attempt to organize Saipan's first garment workers union was met with intense intimidation by factory management and led to her termination. Rather than return to her home in the Philippines, Abad came to the US in order to expose the harsh reality of Saipan. Working with Global Exchange and other US organizations, Abad has served as a spokeswoman for Saipan's garment workers on a lawsuit to improve living and working conditions on the island.

Vivian Price is a union electrician and a videographer with a Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine. She teaches Women's Studies, Politics and Film Studies at various universities, and has worked in the field of video production for more than a decade. Price produced Faces of Tradeswomen,commissioned by the U.S. Women's Bureau, and In My Own Words, Against All Odds,the story of the first African-American journeywoman in the electrician's union in Los Angeles. She also produced Gender in the Global Construction Sitefor the Beijing Women's Conference. Hammering It Outwas the result of three intensive years of research and interviews with tradeswomen, state workers, contractors and union officials in Los Angeles.

Gary Fritz is a third generation coal miner form Southwestern Indiana. He worked for Peabody Coal at the Lynnville Mine for 11 years and was recently diagnosed with black lung. Active in his local union, Fritz served on the safety and newsletter committees, as chair of the strike committee, and was founder and chair of the Labor Education Foundation. Taking a job with the Organizing Department of United Mine Workers of America, Fritz worked for a year on a project in Matewan, WV. In 1994 he was appointed Deputy Director of Organizing at International headquarters in Washington, DC. In addition to organizing, he works on history and video projects and other special events. Before working in the mines, Fritz made TV commercials for sporting events in 16mm film, and later moved into video. As a union staffer, Fritz has used film and video to educate, train and motivate both the public and union members. A highlight was working with Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple on the video Out of Darkness,a history of the UMWA struggles.