SAGE eyes working benefits, bargaining table

SAGE eyes working benefits, bargaining table

UC Berkeley grad union gains apply to all universities

By Maria Beerens

After the Student Association of Graduate Employees (SAGE) went
on strike two weeks ago, it received no significant promises from
the UCLA administration.

But if the union is eventually recognized, it could gain a
number of financial and working benefits that other graduate
employee unions are now fighting for.

"Informal collective bargaining is a matter of recorded historic
facts," said John Medearis, SAGE member and graduate political
science student.

Currently, the University of California’s policy extends the
graduate employee benefits accrued at one campus to the other UC
campuses.

After the graduate employee union at UC Berkeley negotiated
agreements with its administration for a fee remission program and
health insurance payment in 1991, graduate students at UCLA
received similar benefits as well, Medearis said.

Since the Berkeley negotiations, the UCLA graduate student
employees have received a 3 percent pay increase in January, a
$2,155 annual fee credit and a yearly $560 medical insurance
exemption.

But the drift to become a union goes beyond financial matters,
said Mike Miller, lead SAGE organizer.

The largest benefit would come from bringing graduate student
employees to the bargaining table, Medearis said.

Instead of graduate employees being told what is best for them
and what their pay and benefits are going to be, they would take
part in the discussion about their financial compensation, he
added.

But more specifically, collective bargaining could provide the
graduate students with three benefits, Medearis said.

First, a contract that clearly specifies job descriptions.

"We know cases in which TAs are asked to do personal tasks
instead of tasks that are legitimately related to their employment.
For example, buying movie and theater tickets, walking dogs," he
said.

Also, some departments decrease the number of hours TAs are paid
to work, but leave the amount of work at the same level, Medearis
said.

A second item would be better grievance procedures.

As of now, the university has the final say in matters regarding
sexual harassment or discrimination.

Conversely, a union would bargain for a neutral third party that
could handle these grievances.

Lastly, a union could protect the benefits that SAGE already
has, Medearis said.

"For instance, SAGE learned earlier this year that people at the
main office of the University of California were considering taking
away the fee remission program. We want to participate in those
decisions," he explained.

Since the two-day walkout, SAGE membership has increased,
Medearis said.

In addition, it has had an impact inside and outside the campus
community, Miller said.

Currently, the departments of film and television, art history,
women’s studies and comparative literature have elected "stewards"
to be the interface between SAGE and the graduate students, he
said.

"The organization is a lot stronger now," Miller said. "We are
going to continue disruption at UCLA in the next months."