By Lawrence Ferchaw Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The union for academic student employees and the University of
California are currently in non-binding mediation as they attempt
to arrive at a contract.
The decision to enter mediation came the day before a strike was
scheduled to begin on Friday of finals week. Both sides have agreed
not to discuss the substance of their negotiations while they
continue to work toward an agreement.
But in a statement released March 16, UC President Richard
Atkinson said he was happy the union chose to meet and
negotiate.
"We continue to be committed to serious, good-faith negotiations
with the goal of reaching a contract," Atkinson said in the
statement.
The mediation will help both sides in reaching a contract and in
resolving what the union has said are unfair bargaining practices
by the university, said Connie Razza, a spokeswoman for the Student
Association of Graduate Employees/UAW, which represents academic
student employees at UCLA.
"We have the opportunity to try to resolve their unfair
practices within the context of mediation," Razza said. She added
that the union is also happy that UC officials said they would
issue a letter to faculty and administrators reiterating the
university’s commitment to bargain with the union.
UC officials, however, said the charges of unfair and illegal
bargaining on their part are unfounded. On March 15 they filed
their own complaints against the union with the Public Employment
Relations Board.
While Razza said the claims are untrue, the university’s
complaints against the union included refusal to bargain, failing
to make a proposal and threatening a strike.
"The university felt it was important to be on the record with
PERB objecting to some of the bargaining practices of the union
that were clearly unfair," UC spokesman Brad Hayward said last
month.
PERB will review both sets of charges.
The UAW and the UC reached the mediation agreement Thursday
after discussions between the two parties and members of the state
legislature, including Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los
Angeles) and Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San
Francisco).
Gov. Gray Davis made Marty Morgenstern, director of the state
Department of Personnel Administration, available to serve as the
mediator.
Morgenstern has taught labor relations at both UC Davis and
Berkeley. He also served as a member of PERB in the 1980s.
"He’s got the know-how to get this done," Razza said of
Morgenstern. "It’s really a credit to Gov. Davis’ commitment to
education that he’s allowing Marty Morgenstern to serve in this
capacity."
Atkinson in his statement also thanked Davis for making
Morgenstern available to mediate the negotiations.
While the two sides meet systemwide, negotiating sessions at the
individual campuses have been suspended.
The UAW represents about 9,300 academic student employees at the
UC’s eight general campuses. The UC agreed to recognize the unions
after elections last year at the campuses showed a majority of
those who voted wanted to be represented by the UAW. Contract
negotiations with the UC began in September.