The Classified Council of Employees President Carl Williams and Southern Vice President Tina Solórzano Fletcher work hard for the union, but they both also like to have fun. So, Sunday morning before attendees left the 2023 Classified Council of Employees Conference at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, Williams hosted a game show, Kahoot!, along with presiding over an auction and a raffle (the proceeds went to a fund for classified employees to attend events like the conference).

To participate in the game show, people used a QR code to answer questions like what was Rachel wearing on the first episode of Friends? (a wedding dress), what president was a licensed bartender? (Abraham Lincoln), and what was the first National Park? (Yellowstone). There were also some CFT-related questions, such as which is our national union? (AFT, of course!), and what day is the classified rally in Sacramento? (MAY 21, 2024!!!)

Items auctioned off included body scrubs, water bottles, a necklace, National Lampoon- themed socks (“Let your feet celebrate the holiday as well!”), a tea set, a book on men’s fashion, some mystery bags, a Raiders T-shirt, and a package to go bowling at Bowlero’s (shoes included!) For the last one, Williams thanked his daughter’s boyfriend, a manager at the bowling alley and sports bar.

Roy Dietz, a locksmith at El Camino College and president of the El Camino Classified Employees, AFT Local 6142 and Jeffrey Freitas, the CFT president, got into a bit of a bidding war for a black and white sweater. Freitas narrowly beat Dietz out, and then he and CFT Secretary Treasurer Lacy Barnes came sneaking over to Dietz’s table, laughing and smiling, to hang the sweater on the shoulders of Erika Yates, El Camino College Library and Learning Resources Specialist. Yates was Dietz’s intended recipient of the sweater. Yates got another item at the auction. When Williams announced bidding on lunch with him, after some good-natured joking, Yates bid $80, and won the lunch. She considers it money well spent. “He’s such a wonderful leader,”Yates said. “I just want to spend more time with him.”

There was more than one bidding war, often spurred on by Northern CCE Vice President Janet Eberhardt’s cries of, “It’s for the children!” Maybe the fiercest bidding was for the grand prize —a two-night stay for two people in a Bayview room at the Hyatt

Regency San Francisco. People started off calling out $100, quickly rising to $300, $350, $375, $380, with Mason Waller, a paraeducator with United Educators of San Francisco, finally getting the room for $400.

He plans to give it to his father, whose birthday was the day before the auction.

“I’m glad I got it,” he said. “I’m not sure I’m glad I paid $400 for it.”