Friday, December 4, 1998
The five days of striking a last resort for employees
LABOR: UC administration can put end to protest by respecting
student rights
By Liz Geyer
On the first day of striking my chancellor gave to me, a strike
that was unnecessary.
On the second day of striking my chancellor gave to me, my
sections cancelled, and a strike that was unnecessary.
On the third day of striking my chancellor gave to me, tutors
missing in action, my sections cancelled, and a strike that was
unnecessary.
On the fourth day of striking my chancellor gave to me, no
review sessions, tutors missing in action, my sections cancelled
and a strike that was unnecessary.
On the fifth day of striking, the chancellor gave to me,
re-cog-niii-tion!
Review sessions next week, tutors coming back, sections meeting
now, and the strike’s over, fair grades for me!
Tens of thousands of undergraduates are being put at risk by the
University of California administration.
On Wednesday, undergraduate carolers across the UC visited their
chancellors at home urging them to recognize the Academic Student
Employee unions on each of the eight undergraduate campuses. Each
of the eight striking campuses’ undergraduate student associations
passed resolutions urging students to support the unions and
calling on their chancellors to avert the strike, but to no
avail.
The University of California Student Association (UCSA),
representing the 170,000 students of the UC, has also pledged its
support. It is active in organizing undergraduates to ensure that
the university does not harm undergraduate education by
union-busting. UCSA has also pledged to educate students about the
administration’s tactics in averting recognition and the effects it
could have on our grades.
UCLA is second in the nation in graduate student instruction.
Across the UC, teaching assistants (TAs) do 60 percent of the
teaching. As undergraduates, many of us have been in at least one
class that was taught exclusively by a TA (e.g., English 3).
The University of California claims that TAs are primarily
students, but cannot deny that they are laborers, and TAs are
recognized as laborers at 18 other universities. The administration
also stated that this is a decision of the courts. This is ironic,
considering how many times the administration has appealed the
decisions of the Public Employee Relations Board (spending millions
of public university funds in the process) or has failed to
implement them, when the decision was in favor of collective
bargaining. They are dragging this out, and we are paying for it.
The administration wants us to be confused about it at all
costs.
But it’s very simple – TAs and undergraduates all want the same
thing.
Collective bargaining is every working person’s right to ensure
that they have a say in their working conditions, so that they can
do their jobs well.
This includes things like wages, amount of work, and benefits.
For example, if my TA has a section of 40 instead of 20 students,
then that directly affects how much time she can spend in office
hours with me and in grading my papers. If she has to get another
job to pay for health benefits, that affects the time and energy
she can give me too.
I want my TA to have a good working environment, because it is
my learning environment and my grading environment.
Undergraduates know better than anyone else at this university
how hard TAs work, how much time they spend on us. It is their job
to provide us with a service. If it was their job to fix pipes,
there wouldn’t be a "battle" over recognition. But isn’t teaching a
job? Shouldn’t the UC want undergraduates to have the best
conditions for learning? It’s obvious that the university’s
priority isn’t undergraduate learning.
For example, the statements made by both the president of the UC
and Chancellor Carnesale have promised that they will do everything
in their power to get us our grades. But what do those grades mean
without our TAs’ input? Will they reflect the work we have done?
Did you know that students on this campus were once given a final
grade averaged up only to the eighth week?
That’s fine if you were getting an "A" all along, but if you
were counting on that final to bring your grade up, kiss the "A"
goodbye. Other possible options are to get the professors to change
the essays and papers to scan-trons (which would mean no partial
credit for those equations, and scan-trons work well in English
literature, don’t they?). Maybe we could get the professors to
grade all our finals. (Would you like to be 206th person to have
your final graded? Does your professor know who you are?)
Here’s another proposal – we could create a special category for
temporary grades "In Progress" (but if you’re taking a prerequisite
class, how will you know if you passed, or need to retake a
class?). Or maybe we should hire other students, even undergrads,
to grade your exams, students who have no knowledge of your work or
progress, and could have never even been to your class
(aaaahh!).
What’s left? Will the university impose pass/no pass grading on
us? The administration should get a big fat "F" for the work
they’re doing.
So what can we do to stop this madness? Call your chancellor at
(310) 825-2151 or e-mail him at [email protected], and tell
him, "Stop disrupting my education. Recognize the Student
Association of Graduate Employees (SAGE) at UCLA and ask that the
UC president do the same throughout the UC system."
Carnesale is the only one who can end the strike at UCLA. What
about the "excellence" of UCLA, Chancellor Carnesale? Is that still
your priority? Also, you who want to help can come out and walk
awhile in our TAs’ shoes, talk to them. There will be an
undergraduate solidarity picket today on Westwood Avenue and Le
Conte Avenue from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Our TAs need our help.
Comments, feedback, problems?
© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board[Home]