_tsM~

UNITED
UNITY.$TR:ENGTH

February 1,2012 Mr. Colcord, We have received your proposal for a debate to be held this February 7,2012. We are prepared to accept it; however, we consider your rules of engagement to be contradictory to the precepts of democracy and accountability. Your attempt to unilaterally determine the terms of the debate underscores many long-standing failures of representation in Santa Clara County; your proposed terms are designed to skew the debate toward what you want to address, rather than confronting the full range of issues that are of concern to the workforce. Therefore, we will join you in a debate setting, subject to the following modifications of your initial proposal: FIRST, that the moderator be selected, via an alternate striking process, from a professional organization of trained mediators in the State of California; that such person have no relationship to any union participating in the debate and; that all participating unions share equally in the cost of the moderator. Strict neutrality demands that parties share costs; as such, we will also insist that participating parties split the cost of the venue you have reserved. SECOND, that all participants consent to video and audio recording, and that each party retain the right to make its own recording of the entire proceedings for subsequent distribution to those members who are unable to attend the debate. THIRD, that questions on topics of interest to the membership, beyond solely those questions related to contract bargaining, be welcomed and openly addressed by debate participants. Santa Clara workers have indicated to us that they wish to hear responses on, among other issues, the following topics: long-term contract enforcement, field labor representative staffing, union relations with management, union participation in local and national politics, financial accountability and transparency, union communications, democratic election and training of shop stewards and bargaining team, leadership/organizational structure, democratic election of union leadership, and amendment/enforcement of union bylaws. We are unwilling to participate in a debate in which the questions on the agenda are limited to those that NEMSA deems acceptable. FOURTH, that the debate participants be limited to the Presidents of each participating union. Your proposed debater, Mr. Talbot, is a paid contractor with NEMSA who holds no position on the NEMSA Board of Directors (either elected or appointed). The NEMSA leadership body is solely responsible for the operations of the union: in short, for all of the issues of interest outlined in the previous paragraph. Santa Clara EMS workers have the right to hear directly from their elected/appointed union officers. They also have the right to assess those leaders' personal knowledge of the issues that are of greatest concern to the workforce. The Interim President of the Board of Directors of United EMS Workers, Jimmy Gambone, will debate your current President of record, Eric Stephens. Both debaters will be unassisted by others. Should IAEP consent to participate, the equivalent acceptable debater would be David Holway, the President of NAGE. We await your response.

Sh~

Jimmy Gambone On Behalf of the Interim Board of Directors of the United EMS Workers United EMS Workers

333 Hegenberger

Road, Suite 504 Oakland, CA 94621