By Michael Falcone
Daily Bruin Contributor
University of California union leaders say that stagnant wages
mean tens of thousands of their workers are falling behind in the
race to stay ahead of rising inflation rates and are losing ground
in relation to other state workers.
Citing a 6 percent average wage difference in comparison to
other state employees in comparable positions, members of
University Professional and Technical Employees union along with
the Communication Workers of America are asking the state
legislature for an additional 2 percent budget allocation for
non-faculty salaries.
“There has been a large letter writing campaign by staff
to encourage the legislature and the governor to upgrade
recruitment and retention levels by increasing salaries,”
said Cliff Fried, the executive vice president of UPTE/CWA and
long-time staff research associate at the UCLA Cancer Center.
“It’s a very modest request in a strong economic
year, and the legislature can afford 2 percent to help UC
employees,” Fried added.
Brad Hayward, a UC spokesman agreed, saying UC is in favor of a
what the unions are asking for.
“There are cases in which we know some groups of employees
at the university are compensated less than comparable groups of
employees in the local market,” Hayward said.
“We certainly support efforts in the legislature and by
the governor to provide salary increases to help us address market
lags that we have in some areas,” he added.
Hayward said allocations in Gov. Gray Davis’ budget
revision, released Monday, would provide $12 million in staff
compensation increases.
Currently, 24 percent of the total funding for the UC system is
provided by the state’s General Fund. The UC uses that money
to pay for academic programs, staff and faculty salaries.
UC allocates an annual 2 percent cost of living adjustment to
staff, but Fried said with inflation, employees need more.
He pointed out that while UC has focused on wage parity for
faculty and administrators, they have been neglecting staff. Top UC
administrators, he said, receive yearly raises on salaries that
already hover in the hundreds of thousands.
“Some of them got increases that were equivalent to one of
our employee’s yearly wage,” said Cliff Fried
Union representatives say UC workers have been shortchanged in
recent years, and low salaries have contributed to high rate of
turnover among staff.
“I’ve been here since January 1999, and I’ve
seen a tremendous turnover,” said Judith Magee the assistant
programs counselor at the UCLA EXPO Center and an UPTE union
organizer.
“I’ve seen 100 percent turnover in the clerical area
and at least 25 percent among student affairs officers,” she
continued.
Magee has been active in UPTE’s letter writing campaign
and has also visited the district offices of several state
legislators to ask for their support for new budget language
providing for a UC staff pay increase.
The governor’s $12 million proposal may help subsidize
that increase, but according to Ann Bancroft, the assistant
communications Secretary in the Office of the State Secretary for
Education, the money was earmarked for “high priority
uses,” which means it may or may not be used to augment staff
salaries.
Originally, the state Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education
was scheduled to address the unions’ 2 percent funding
request at a committee meeting Tuesday morning; however the
committee rescheduled the issue for either Thursday or Friday.
“When it was first presented in April the committee was
not opposed,” said Monica Hogan a
lobbyist for CWA who attended Tuesday’s committee
meeting.
“I would like to believe that it will have consent out of
the budget committee,” she added.
If the subcommittee approves the 2 percent measure, it still
needs the approval of both the Assembly and Senate before it gets
to the governor’s desk.
Magee said a 2 percent salary increase could be a significant
boost for UC staff like her who sometimes struggle to get by in the
high-rent area of Los Angeles.
“We can’t afford to live in the city where we
work,” Magee said.
“I would be able to make a car payment and my school loan
payment every month without worrying,” Magee said.