VETERAN L.A. TEACHER IN BATTLE WITH UTLA.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

NORTH HILLS - Gregg Solkovits is a proud union man through and through.

The long-time social studies teacher at Monroe High School grew up in a family of teachers and, by extension of his mother's union activism, grew up with United Teachers Los Angeles.

``Next to my wife and my child, I love the union the most,'' said an unabashed Solkovits, who is married to a teacher union activist and chaired the West San Fernando Valley chapter of the UTLA for six years.

But for the last six months, Solkovits has been locked in an expensive legal battle with the union over allegations of election irregularities that have tainted not just his own race for a seat on UTLA's executive board but also other related races, including the one for union president.

Part and parcel of the election dispute, a vocal minority of teachers say, are bigger issues about the health and future of the 48,000-member teachers union, which is increasingly facing dissent and criticism from within for being out of touch with its rank and file.

Solkovits was among a group of reform candidates who sought union leadership positions in elections earlier this year. He vowed to make classroom issues a top priority and restore credibility to an organization in decline.

``I see we have got a generational change going on right now. The people who formed this union - the blood and soul of this union - a lot of these people are facing retirement,'' said Ed Kaz, a Reseda High School teacher who is Solkovits' successor in the West Valley.

``One of the challenges of this union is to bring in the new leadership - the next generation - those who don't have personal memories of being out on the picket line for five weeks 32 years ago.''

Warren Fletcher, who ran for union president but lost, also is seeking change.

``UTLA, as all unions, started as a scrappy group of employees who got together and needed to have a united voice,'' said Fletcher. ``As an organization matures, it becomes more institutional and more bureaucratic.

``It has turned away from the idea of being a strong, independent voice for teachers.''

As a sign of UTLA's declining relevance, Kaz noted that only about 10,000 people voted in the recent elections. Some fear the election dispute would further erode confidence in the union.

``We are a democratic body. We have a constitution to follow. Certainly when the rules are not followed, it does not encourage people to have full faith and confidence in their union,'' Kaz said.

UTLA President John Perez, who participated in the 1970 teacher strike for 23 days, and UTLA's former president, Day Higuchi, denied that the election controversy is a sign of organizational malaise.

``When you have people saying the organization is out of touch, a lot of the times it's people who don't win,'' said Perez. ``Gregg, he wants to win the office, what can I tell you? He didn't finish first in any of the times the ballots were counted.''

Solkovits is not the only one to file election challenges. Others have as well, alleging improprieties in the union's presidential and board of directors races.

Perez's election victory was contested earlier in the year by Becki Robinson on several grounds, including the fact that observers were not allowed to witness the counting of ballots.

But her appeals were rejected by the union's election committee, and the deadline for her to pursue arbitration has passed.

Solkovits stressed that his crusade - which has cost him $20,000 in legal fees - is one about principle, justice and democracy.

``All this has ever been about is a fair election,'' he said.

Solkovits lost by 68 votes in the June runoff election against Bev Cook, who ran on the same slate as Perez for the vice president seat representing the American Federation of Teachers on the UTLA executive board.

Solkovits, who supported challenger Mike Cherry for the union president seat, was running for one of seven full-time executive board positions. Elected officers serve three-year terms and are paid nearly $96,000 in annual salary plus a car allowance and expense account.

The Monroe High teacher contested the results of the June runoff after discovering that 254 unsigned mail-in ballots were counted in violation of the union's own election rules. An arbitrator ruled in his favor in November, ordering a new runoff election be held.

Union officials contested the arbitrator's findings but the arbitrator has upheld his ruling. The UTLA has since scheduled a new election, with ballots to be mailed out on Jan. 24 and counted on Feb. 14.

In the meantime, despite the protest of Solkovits' attorney, UTLA has refused to remove Cook from office pending the election outcome.

Exactly how many challenges have been filed and upheld is not clear because UTLA's election committee members declined comment.

Some races have been rerun, but Solkovits said there has been little explanation in the union newsletter, and as a result, many teachers are confused or uninformed.

``It's disenfranchising thousands of our members. They don't know what is going on,'' he said. ``They have just thrown up their hands and given up.''

If the UTLA proceeds with a new election for Solkovits, it would be the fifth race held to fill the same position in less than one year.

The earlier rounds were invalidated because campaign fliers were not properly distributed.

Higuchi attributed the election problems to Sequoia Voting Systems, which handled the union's election and advised the election committee to count the unsigned ballots.

He noted that the union's constitution requires an outside company to handle elections to ensure the sanctity of the process, and that the job of the election committee is merely to make sure that politics doesn't intrude.

Some teachers, however, believe the union has wronged Solkovits and that its leadership failed in ensuring that Sequoia handled the elections according to union regulations. ``Many people are not realizing what (Solkovits) is doing is really heroic. He is standing up to institutional bullying,'' said Scott Gerber, a union activist, who credits Solkovits for making the West Valley chapter of the UTLA the best organized.

``He is standing up for the rights of the membership. It's not out of selnterest. He wants to preserve democracy in the union and make the union responsive to its membership.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Monroe High School teacher Gregg Solkovits has been locked in an expensive legal battle with the teachers union over allegations of election irregularities that have tainted his race for a seat on UTLA's executive board.

(2 -- color) L.A. teacher Gregg Solkovits, center, leads a Social Studies class at North Hills' James Monroe High, where 17-year-old Marcus Hopson, left, and Gustavo Hernandez are students.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer