Pay equity NOW!

Scientists aren’t receiving equal pay for equal work. Scientists have suffered through record-setting inflation, economic turmoil, and two mandatory furloughs in the last five years. To boot, Newsom’s administration has failed to implement the court-ordered “like pay for like work” ruling won by CAPS in 2008 for the rank-and-file. California’s equal pay provisions require fair compensation, yet scientists still earn 30 percent less than comparable peer classifications in engineering. We will empower member-leaders to unleash the most grassroots and transformative organizing campaign that has ever taken place among state workers. My experience in bargaining and member action will allow us to take our organizing efforts to the next level.

Hell No RTO!

Reject Gavin’s arbitrary and destructive return-to-office mandate! State scientists have spent the last five-and-a-half years working remotely and have no qualms about coming into the office—as long as there’s a good reason. Gavin’s executive order hurts employees, the environment, and the employer. Multiple studies, including the Joint Legislative Audit Committee report, illustrate that remote work improves or maintains productivity. We will expand on our efforts to mobilize state workers in the tens of thousands to fight off RTO for good! I am widely regarded as one of the most prominent voices opposing RTO mandates, having played a crucial role in organizing nearly a dozen anti-RTO actions in the span of the last two years. I’ve appeared on TV in opposition to RTO and have given many speeches at rallies. I’ve been instrumental in bringing multiple unions together, championing the idea that it’s gonna take a united front to unwind this destructive policy.

Defend our contract!

Our industrial civil rights are only as safe as our ability to prevent and remedy violations. Beyond grievance processes, management will be far less likely to violate our members’ rights when we are organized, unified, and actively exercising our collective power. I routinely uphold members’ rights by filing grievances so they can get the relief that they deserve. With your support, we will build out a fully-fledged steward network with broad penetration into all worksites within our District that will build firewalls against management overreach and respond rapidly when situations arise.

Break down barriers!

In order to increase participation, we must smash barriers preventing it from happening! We’ll make participation easy, accessible, and meaningful. We’ll integrate union engagement into workplace culture. And we’ll improve outreach about upcoming events, setting SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-based) goals for stewards to ensure super-majority participation in membership meetings and union activities. I have been instrumental in the adoption of several improvements to the monthly District 3 Membership Meeting structure. I was instrumental in debuting the concept of solidarity breaks union-wide, allowing, for the first time, a space for members to gather together to discuss union actions and things going on in the workplace.

EARN our votes!

The 2025-26 budget left a $787 million hole for state workers to have to fill. Balancing the budget on the backs of hard-working State scientists is unacceptable. We’ll hold elected officials, including the Governor and members of the Legislature, accountable for their decision to renege on our contractually agreed-upon raises.

ICE Out!

ICE’s annual funding now rivals the entire military budget of Canada, Australia, or Spain. The ICE budget exceeds the combined budgets of the FBI, DEA, ATF, U.S. Marshals, and Bureau of Prisons. Immigration raids and de jure racial profiling (upheld by the Supreme Court) pose a threat to members of color regardless of their immigration status. We will empower members to know their rights and apply pressure to management to safeguard our members from ICE terror. I have been spearheading engagement with CalEPA management around this issue, largely without assistance from union leadership. That changes once I’m elected.

Free Palestine!

We cannot simply avert our eyes as our colleagues in science and fellow siblings in labor are falling victim to genocide in Gaza and the West Bank. We will demonstrate unprecedented solidarity with Palestinians experiencing ethnic cleansing, starvation, collective punishment, and apartheid. I am well-known for my efforts to organize around Palestinian liberation and was instrumental in getting CAPS-UAW to call for a ceasefire in Gaza as early as October 2023, having drafted language that I presented to the Board for review and approval.

Defend “DEI” & “CRT”!

The forces of reaction are using these and other buzzwords (like “woke”) to undermine efforts to dismantle systemic and institutional inequities. We won’t kow-tow to smear merchants and wanna-be strongmen hell-bent on rolling the clock back to the Antebellum period. With me, a certified racial equity trainer, as a helmsman, we won’t just play defense—we’ll go on offense and continue to root out instances of legacy discrimination and actively unburden the most impacted communities disproportionately impacted by environmental harm.

Rescue science from politics!

CAPS-UAW must play a crucial role in the defense of evidence-based policy decision-making. That includes standing up for matters of settled science, like climate change and the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Of course, everything has a political component to it, but we should let data, evidence, and science drive policymaking, rather than ideology. We must guard science against those who would abuse it for political purposes. As someone whose job depends on my ability to translate science into policy, I’ll defend members’ right to communicate science free from political interference, push for provisions that protect scientific integrity, and champion transparent, data‑driven policymaking with agencies and the public.

Stop the Slash!

Federal science funding faces unprecedented assault. Congress has appropriated $163 billion in cuts to nondefense discretionary spending that includes civilian science research: reducing NIH by 40% ($20 billion), NSF by 55% ($5 billion), and NASA science by 52%. Over 1,650 NSF grants and 3,500 NIH grants have been terminated or paused. We will engage with coalitions pushing back against these devastating cuts to research that protects public health and the environment. My father was a career scientist who spent 51 years in service to NASA-JPL. Science funding put food on the table and clothes on my back. We will do everything in our power to push for more, not less, research funding.