UCLA employees protest restrictions on union representation

This post was updated July 28, 2020 at 4:15 p.m.

About 200 UCLA employees called on administrators to stop the university’s alleged restrictions on union representation at a protest Wednesday in front of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

The UCLA Skilled Trades Workers, a group that consists of employees who manage buildings, electricity and other campus operations, is in the process of gaining representation from Teamsters Local 2010, a union that already represents other UCLA employees.

Jesse Mathus, lead organizer for Teamsters Local 2010, said UCLA impeded their efforts by supporting unfair labor practices, such as imposing new work rules without giving employees enough time to respond.

Mathus added the union’s contract with their previous representers, State Employee Trade Council, expired in October, and workers have since worked to gain representation with Teamsters Local 2010. More than 75 percent of UCLA Skilled Trades Workers members have signed certification cards to collaborate with Teamsters Local 2010, and are waiting on the Public Employment Relations Board to approve the representation.

Mathus said employees at the hospital have been working for two years without a contract and three years without a raise. The workers have not had union representation since October.

He added UCLA officials have asked employees to sign revised work rules and sit in administrative meetings without union representation. The University also failed to provide a 30-day notice of revised work rules for employees to be able to negotiate them, Mathus said. He added he thinks many workers have felt like they have no choice but to approve the changes.

UCLA spokesperson Ricardo Vazquez said the representation petitions are being decided by PERB, which has exclusive jurisdiction to resolve the matter.