UCLA cannot appeal ruling

Friday, February 12, 1999

UCLA cannot appeal ruling

SAGE: SAGE says decision a victory, hopes university will
recognize rights of TAs

By Lawrence Ferchaw

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

The California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) has
unanimously ruled that the university cannot appeal the board’s
December decision to recognize the right of academic student
employees to unionize at UCLA.

The ruling, which came on Tuesday, is a victory for the Student
Association of Graduate Employees (SAGE), which is attempting to
gain collective bargaining rights for teaching assistants.

"We’re confident that the university will now be compelled to
recognize and bargain with us once we win the election," said Mike
Miller, SAGE organizer.

"The ruling shuts the door on any further legal stalling to
recognition and collective bargaining rights," he added.

The board has already scheduled an election at UCLA for March
9-11 to determine whether the student employees should be organized
and represented by SAGE, which is affiliated with the United Auto
Workers.

UC spokesman Brad Hayward said that the university’s position
has not changed.

"We’re disappointed, because we believe the December decision at
UCLA deserved review because it conflicts with the precedent set by
the previous court decisions," he said.

University officials have long contended that because teaching
assistants are students first, a collective bargaining situation
would ruin the collegial relationship that currently exists between
the faculty and students.

"In most instances, I believe, employees should have the right
to organize and to bargain collectively if they choose to do so,"
said Chancellor Albert Carnesale in a letter sent Wednesday to the
UCLA community. "But the students who will vote in March are
employees secondarily."

Before PERB’s decision, the university had hoped to appeal the
board’s December ruling to the state Court of Appeals.

The latest ruling denies the university the right to appeal, but
UCLA can ask the board to reconsider its ruling, according to Les
Chisholm, the board’s Sacramento regional director. It is unlikely
that the board will reconsider its unanimous decision.

Hayward said that the university is weighing its remaining
options.

"There are other options for judicial review," he said. "We have
to review the issues as they arise."

"The bottom line is that we protect the integrity of the
educational process. We’re considering how to do that," Hayward
said.

In December, PERB ruled that under the state’s Higher Education
Employer-Employee Relations Act, the university is required to
grant collective bargaining rights to a union that represents a
majority of academic student employees at UCLA.

That decision came shortly after the University of California
and the union agreed to a cooling-off period to end a UC-wide
strike by the student employees.

During this time, union representatives and university officials
discussed their respective opinions, but failed to reach any
agreement.

In the December decision, PERB called for the March election to
determine whether a sufficient number of graduate student employees
support SAGE as their collective bargaining agent.

"Every one of these people should vote," said Jim Turner,
assistant vice chancellor of graduate programs. "If that were the
case it would not be voted in."

Miller disagreed with this prediction, and noted that a majority
of graduate employees signed union cards authorizing the union to
represent them.

"This is an important issue, and many who are on campus and free
will go and vote," Miller said.

Only a simple majority of those who turn out for the election
need to vote for SAGE for the union to be recognized under state
law.

With reports from Mason Stockstill and Michael Weiner, Daily
Bruin Senior Staff.

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