SAGE strikes for collective bargaining rights

Wednesday, December 2, 1998

SAGE strikes for collective bargaining rights

DEMANDS: Union hopes to create more stabile environment, better
conditions for graduate workers

By Barbara Ortutay

Daily Bruin Staff

By going on strike Tuesday, academic student employees
throughout the UC system hope to gain collective bargaining rights
with the university’s administration.

If they are granted these rights, graduate employees who are
union members will be able to have direct input into their working
conditions.

"If we were to resolve certain issues without collective
bargaining, it would be unstable," said Connie Razza, an organizer
for the Student Association of Graduate Employees (SAGE).

Currently, each UC campus sets wages and health coverage plans
for teaching assistants (TAs), tutors and readers. At UCLA, class
sizes for TAs are determined by each department.

The university doesn’t recognize academic student employee
unions, because it views student employees primarily as
students.

"The teaching experience that TAs get here is valuable to their
education," said Chancellor Albert Carnesale. "I would prefer that
their assignments be determined by faculty rather than by the
United Auto Workers (UAW)."

UAW is supporting SAGE in the strike.

"I would prefer that their performance be assessed by faculty
members rather than by some set of union rules," he added.

But many graduate employees believe that it is exactly this
institutionalized type of bargaining that will lead to better
employment conditions.

Preston Keat, a TA for Political Science 50, is not striking but
said he agrees with having a graduate employee union.

"Having a union makes sense," he said. "Employees have clear
legal rights for collective bargaining."

SAGE members are demanding recognition from the university
because they believe collective bargaining rights will lead to more
stable working conditions and a "fair say in the terms and
conditions of our employment," according to Razza.

"Collective bargaining is a system by which the employees get to
determine what their priorities are," she said. "They get to
register their dissatisfaction with their employers."

These priorities range from wages to health benefits to class
size.

If recognized, the union would survey its members on what they
feel should be the top priorities regarding their working
conditions, Razza said.

While administrators have made attempts to address the concerns
and grievances of graduate employees, SAGE supporters said this is
not enough.

Union organizers said by addressing specific issues instead of
recognizing SAGE as a union, the university creates an unstable
environment for academic student employees.

"If we go through the issues and the university addresses them,
in two years they can take it away," Razza said.

For example, the cost of living adjustment for graduate
employees used to be tied to that of the faculty, but two years ago
it was cut to about one-half of the faculty adjustment, according
to Razza.

"In Berkeley, we have seen health benefits deteriorate," she
added.

According to many TAs, working conditions vary from department
to department.

"My experience (in the political science department) has been
that there are good relationships between faculty and students,"
Keat said. "The class size limit here is 12 students, while in
other departments it may be 20 or 30."

Whatever the class size limit may be, some TAs are concerned
about the fact that they don’t get to have an input in determining
it.

"We have no say in class sizes," said Carolina Wieland, a TA for
Political Science 50.

While this is not a big issue in the political science
department, Wieland said TAs in other departments, such as English,
constantly face oversized classrooms.

"There might be 70 students for one TA," she said.

In addition to class size, employees would also have a say in
determining their wages if they were granted collective bargaining
rights.

"What happens now is that the university gets to decide what
goes and what stays, and TAs have no say in it," Razza said.

While the ultimate concerns of many striking TAs may be class
size, wages and employee benefits, the way to have ongoing input in
their working conditions is through collective bargaining,
according to SAGE organizers.

"It’s more stable and more institutionalized," Keat said.

Keat added that one reason SAGE may have had trouble gaining
widespread participation in the strike is the high turnover rate of
graduate employees.

"Many TAs don’t see the point if they are only here for two
years," he said. "In standard industry, there is a stable work
force and some workers stay for a lifetime."

Comments, feedback, problems?

© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board[Home]