Thursday, 5/15/97 SAGE prepares walkout for union recognition
STRIKE: Coordinated efforts of five campuses aim to raise
awareness
By A.J. Harwin Daily Bruin Contributor Chalk messages have begun
to pop up around campus announcing the upcoming strike by the
Student Association of Graduate Employees/United Auto Workers
(SAGE/UAW). For the second time this academic year, many UCLA
teaching assistants, readers and tutors will take to the picket
lines beginning next Wednesday, May 21 and ending on Friday, May
23. The UCLA strike is one of five throughout the UC system, in a
collective wave of action advocating academic student employee
union recognition. Teaching assistants at Berkeley held their
strike from April 30-May 2, while UC San Diego held a three-day
strike last week. TAs at UC Santa Cruz plan to have a strike later
this month, while Associated Student Employee members at UC Santa
Barbara have scheduled a strike vote as well. Though this strike
will only last for three days, as opposed to the week-long strike
last November, it is again in response to the UC administration’s
failure to recognize the unions despite a court decision last
September that upheld student employees’ collective bargaining
rights. "The system-wide actions are meant to send a clear message
to the UC administrations that we as academic student employees
know our rights, that our strength is growing, and that our unions
are here to stay," said SAGE/UAW Executive Board member Susan
Conrad in a press release. "We have made a good-faith effort to
meet with UCLA administrators, but (the) university is apparently
not yet willing to negotiate an agreement with us to avert these
actions," Conrad said. Last year, SAGE brought their case before
Public Employee Relations Board Judge James Tamm, who recommended
that the university grant academic student employees collective
bargaining rights. The university appealed the decision, and a
decision is still pending. According to a SAGE press release, union
members decided to accept the judge’s interpretation of current
state law, even though they disagreed with the judge’s ruling that
the university is not required to recognize the collective
bargaining rights of research assistants. In a statement issued in
response to the strike last fall, Chancellor Charles Young said
that the university is firm in its belief that under California law
"students are not entitled to collectively bargain unless their
service predominates over their educational objectives." In a vote
last November, 81 percent of the organization’s members agreed to
take to the picket lines once again before the end of the academic
year to escalate the pressure on the university to recognize SAGE.
"The graduate student union deserves to be recognized by the
administration as a union that coordinates the interests of
graduate student employees on this campus," said Meg Livingston, a
fourth-year English graduate student and teaching assistant. "The
reasons that we want undergraduates to be concerned and to be
involved in the strike is because the issues we are fighting for
are issues that impact undergraduate education, such as class sizes
and TA workload," Livingston continued. While many teaching
assistants may favor the strike, some believe a walkout is not the
best strategy because of its potentially negative effects on
undergraduate education. "I don’t think it’s fair for the
undergraduate students as it is," said Darren Shuster, a
second-year political science graduate student and teaching
assistant. "As it is they do not get enough attention from the
professor and missing a whole week in a 10-week quarter is too
harsh." Current university policies are fair, Shuster said, and
should not be revised on account of SAGE’s demands. "I seem to be
getting a good deal at UCLA. I don’t have a problem with the
workload, and I don’t have a problem with the benefits. It’s for
all these that I continue to do my job," he said. Related Links:
United Auto Workers page