Recorded on: 11/9/11 5:22p Duration: 00:54
11/9/11 JOSE GOVEA of UTLA LEFT A VOICE MAIL 10 MONTHS LATER
(Listen to the audio also)
Hi Jose, I just heard your voice mail about the same time I see your email. To be honest, I was absolutely stunned to hear from you or anybody else at UTLA. I had gotten the impression that LAUSD wronged me, & UTLA abandoned me. In fact, the other two reps (one for Audubon & one for Yoka) quit corresponding. I assumed they just dropped me but wouldn't man-up & say it. Furthermore, somebody did the run-around questioning whether I would be represented because they couldn't find my membership card. I guess they deducted fees for nothing, then.
And are you telling me you never conferred with them ? In your voice mail you inquired as to whether I had been separated from LAUSD . Jose, my friend, I sent you & the two reps NUMEROUS letters, some of them faxed, & some of them hand-delivered, including a face-to-face conversation I had with one fellow who was temporarily filling in for you or one of the other reps (He's African-American & also a council member of some sort for the city of Carson). Are you telling me you have never spoken or communicated with any of these other reps, or them with you, about my grievances?
Jose, please don't add insult to injury.Is this just touching base so you can say you legally completed your required obligations as a representative? I fulfilled my obligations in filing the grievances, or attempting to, & providing everybody with as much information as possible.
I am VERY WELL AWARE that some or most if not all of the people with whom I worked began to whisper about me as an "evangelical Christian from a denominational college." I don't know who went though my files & started gossiping, but I know enough I do NOT HAVE A FAIR CHANCE to work in the LAUSD with the enormous amount of obvious liberal prejudice & bias against me, either because I am Christian, or conservative, or "white", or a combination of all three, or what have you.
I filed my grievances. I also filed with PERB. I fulfilled my obligations to attempt to resolve this matter in a civil mannner. I am aware of numerous shenanigans by both the LAUSD & UTLA that left me feeling cheated & abandoned, & being contacted by you now, NINE MONTHS LATER, feels like insult on top of injury. Are you trying to RUB SALT INTO the WOUNDS, Jose?
WHY ARE YOU CONTACTING ME NINE MONTHS AFTER THE GRIEVANCES WERE FILED & ACTING AS IF YOU ARE NOT EVEN AWARE IF I HAVE BEEN "SEPARATED"? This is absurd.
I cannot respond to you in a factual, piece-by-piece, manner, re-stating all the bits & pieces that I already reguritated & recitated both in writing, over the phone, & partly face-to-face with one of the reps. BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, JOSE.
I do NOT KNOW what your real reason for contacting me may be (maybe you think this will legally tie up any "loose ends") but I do NOT BELIEVE you don't know anything about my case,not even if I was separated or not, & you make a phone call as if I've just been patiently waiting like a "good little white boy" day-by-day for Jose to call for nine months.
Jose, I WORKED FOR THE LAUSD as a substitute for THIRTEEN YEARS. I was NOT BORN YESTERDAY, Jose. Please don't do this to me, amigo. Please do NOT ADD INSULT TO INJURY. I do not believe that any of the UTLA REPS sincerely attempted, in good faith, to do anything for me.
Is this an attempt to tie up loose ends to make sure you are not legally culpable? This is offensive. DONT DO THIS TO ME, JOSE. All of you at the UTLA, as well as the LAUSD, have already hit me hard enough below-the-belt to last a lifetime. Shame on you.
I put ANY & ALL of my HOPE in only one thing: His name is Jesus Christ. You can laugh at that if you wish, but for me, its ALL I LIVE FOR NOW. Jesus was absolutely right when He said we would be persecuted for righteousness sake. I've experienced it.
DON'T ADD INSULT TO INJURY.
John Philip A. Vander KOK
