Monday, October 12, 1998
SAGE threatens administration with strike
DEMANDS: Union claims collective bargaining key to ending long
stalemate
By Ann Hawkey
Daily Bruin Contributor
The Student Association of Graduate Employees and the United
Auto Workers (SAGE/UAW) began another year of struggling for
university recognition Oct. 1, with a letter threatening a fall
quarter strike if Chancellor Albert Carnesale does not meet their
request to open talks.
In a vote spanning eight UC campuses last spring, 87 percent of
SAGE/UAW members approved a fall quarter strike of teaching
assistants, readers and other academic student employees
represented by the organization if the union is not recognized by
the university.
The last time academic student employees went on strike was
during the 1996-97 school year.
‘If the administration does not value undergraduate education
enough to begin talks, then they’re really backing us into a corner
and we will strike,’ said SAGE/UAW spokesperson Connie Razza.
The administration has refused to recognize the union in the
past, claiming that academic student employees are primarily
students, not employees.
‘The university position has been, and continues to be, that our
graduate students are here to be students,’ said Robin Fisher,
associate dean of the graduate division.
‘Consequently, they’re not employees in the traditional sense,
or under the laws of California,’ he said. ‘That makes them
ineligible for collective bargaining rights.’
Past strikes have not convinced the administration to sway from
their position on the matter, and the chancellor has not yet
announced any plans to meet with union leaders.
SAGE/UAW members, however, said they continue to work toward the
initiation of talks with the administration.
‘We’re really trying to open talks because we would love to
avert the strike,’ Razza said. ‘The strike is not something we’re
taking lightly, and we hope the administration will not take it
lightly either.’
Union leaders have billed the upcoming strike as more powerful
than previous strikes, due in large part to the high percentage of
statewide approval during the strike vote.
Graduate students at UCLA also showed support for SAGE/UAW
during the Graduate Student Association (GSA) elections last
spring.
‘Last year when GSA’s members were polled as to their feelings
toward SAGE, a strong majority indicated that they support them,’
said GSA president Joanna Brooks.
However, this number is only indicative of how voting graduate
students feel toward SAGE/UAW. Though 65 percent of voters approved
of SAGE/UAW representation, less than 10 percent of graduate
students actually voted last spring.
Although GSA will not take an official stance on the strike,
Brooks said the GSA leadership is supportive of the union.
‘It’s not our business to encourage or discourage,’ Brooks said.
‘It is a very serious decision people need to make for
themselves.’
‘I hope that our members will have the courage to stand up for
themselves, because they play a large part in the educational
mission of the university,’ she said.
Academic student employees who do choose to strike may face
serious consequences from the university, according to Fisher.
‘This is not a recognized union, and we’re not in the process of
collective bargaining at this time,’ Fisher said. ‘If they do not
complete the duties of their contract, the university policy is
that they do not receive pay.
‘They made a contractual commitment when they accepted their
positions. Our expectation and our hope is that they meet that
commitment,’ he continued.
Because the administration has not yet voluntarily changed their
position on academic student employees’ right to unionization,
SAGE/UAW has also been pursuing the case within the legal
system.
The California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) ruled
last April that certain academic student employees at UC San Diego
are eligible for collective bargaining rights, rejecting claims to
the contrary by UCSD administrators.
SAGE/UAW members hope to receive a similar ruling in the case
now pending regarding UCLA’s situation.
The case at UCLA, however, covers different teaching titles than
those at UCSD, and despite the ruling, the UCSD administration
still has not recognized the union.
UCLA administrators are also anticipating the PERB court
ruling.
‘The administration’s stance and the policy of the university is
that the case is still being litigated in front of the California
Public Employment Relations Board,’ Fisher said.
‘The chancellor continues to seek resolution of the matter by
legal means.’
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