State legislative leaders back union organizers

Monday, December 7, 1998

State legislative leaders back union organizers

SUPPORT: Strike could last until end of quarter unless TAs
granted rights

By Michael Weiner

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

As academic student employees continue to strike, union
organizers received some powerful support Wednesday when state
legislative leaders sent letters in their support to UC President
Richard Atkinson.

Assembly speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, D-Los Angeles, and Senate
President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, sent a joint letter
to Atkinson which urged him to recognize the graduate student
unions.

In their letter, Villaraigosa and Burton said California’s
Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA) requires
the university to recognize the unions.

"Maintaining and advancing the quality of higher education is
too high a priority for the citizens of California to subject it to
unnecessary conflict and disruption," the legislators said in their
letter.

Teaching assistants, readers and tutors on eight UC campuses
went on strike Dec. 1, seeking recognition from the university.
Administrators say academic student employees are students first,
and therefore not eligible for recognition.

Union organizers said the strike will last to the end of fall
quarter if they are not granted collective bargaining rights.

"Until we hear from the administration, we will remain on
strike," said Connie Razza, an organizer for the Student
Association of Graduate Employees/United Auto Workers (SAGE), the
union representing academic student employees at UCLA.

U.S. Rep. Howard Berman, D-Los Angeles, sent a letter of support
for the unions to Atkinson. Berman wrote HEERA while he was a
member of the state legislature.

"To suggest that further litigation or legislative amendments
are necessary ignores our intent in drafting the student employee
provisions of HEERA," Berman said in his letter.

But the university has not changed its position, according to UC
spokesman Brad Hayward.

"We are not arguing that we are precluded from extending
collective bargaining to TAs," Hayward said. "We are saying that it
would be a bad idea on educational grounds."

According to Robin Fisher, associate dean of the graduate
division at UCLA, the legislators’ positions on the issue hold no
more influence than those of any other person.

"Personally, as a citizen of the state of California, I
appreciate the opinions of other citizens of the state of
California," Fisher said.

But Villaraigosa’s opinion could be an important factor in any
imminent change in UC policy, as he is an ex-officio member of the
Board of Regents by virtue of his legislative position.

Meanwhile, Razza did not say if SAGE and the other unions would
extend their strike into winter quarter if they are not recognized
during this term.

"We’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it," she
said.

For complete, up-to-date strike coverage, see The Bruin’s web
site at dailybruin.ucla.edu

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