UC officials maintain stance against SAGE

Friday, January 22, 1999

UC officials maintain stance against SAGE

TALKS: PERB ruled in favor of union, but ‘cooling off’ period
ends without much progress toward resolution

By Timothy Kudo

Daily Bruin Contributor

The 45 day "cooling off" period between academic student
employees and the University of California ended Wednesday with no
clear resolution in sight.

The period was brokered by a proposal from State Senate
President Pro Tem John Burton and Assembly Speaker Antonio
Villaraigosa after four days of strikes during fall quarter.

"We continue to believe that collective bargaining does not
apply to teaching assistants," said UC spokesperson Brad Hayward.
"It would interfere with learning and disrupt the educational
process."

The end of the talks follows a 2-1 decision by the Public
Employment Relations Board (PERB) in favor of the Student
Association of Graduate Employees/United Auto Workers (SAGE), the
union representing teaching assistants (TAs), readers and tutors at
UCLA.

But UC officials continue to maintain that TAs are primarily
students, not employees, and thus are not eligible for collective
bargaining rights. The university cites a 1992 ruling by the
California Court of Appeals, which ruled that TAs did not have
collective bargaining rights.

UC officials said that until another ruling is made by the court
of appeals, they will not recognize the unions.

"Our position at this point has not changed … because the PERB
ruling conflicts with a higher authority," said Hayward.

Union organizers said the strike will probably resume this
quarter at the other UC campuses, where PERB has not yet made
rulings.

"I think it’s extremely likely that we’re going to reject (the
university’s) current position," said SAGE organizer Mike
Miller.

PERB has the power to rule on labor issues based on California’s
Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, which dictates
the qualifications needed for an employee at a public university to
receive collective bargaining benefits.

In order for PERB’s ruling to be appealed to a court within the
state legal system, the appeal must first be approved by the labor
board. But, Les Chisholm, PERB’s Sacramento regional director, said
he does not expect the board to approve the appeal, based on an
earlier rejection made regarding the academic student employee
union at UC San Diego.

While the university contends that the act does not require it
to grant union recognition to academic student employees, the
unions have received the support of the act’s author, former state
legislator and current U.S. Rep. Howard Berman, D-Los Angeles.

Based on the ruling, PERB will hold an election to decide what
group, if any, will represent the TAs, readers and tutors at UCLA
in collective bargaining negotiations. Graduate student employees
will have the opportunity to give SAGE the authority to make such
decisions.

Union organizers said they are certain SAGE will be chosen to
represent academic student employees at UCLA.

"We’re going to win," said SAGE organizer Connie Razza. "We’ve
had consistent shows of majority support."

The union representation election will be held March 9-11. There
will be on-site voting, with two polling places located on campus,
according to Jim Turner, assistant vice chancellor of the graduate
division at UCLA.

The talks, which took place in Oakland, were attended by
representatives from the university, the United Auto Workers, which
is affiliated with the unions, and union representatives from
various UC campuses.

PERB has delayed ruling on similar issues at other UC campuses,
and has not yet determined whether the UCLA decision, coupled with
a similar decision at UC San Diego, will apply to all the UC
campuses, Chisholm said.

Comments, feedback, problems?

© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board[Home]