Union celebrates resolution of casual worker grievance

By Timothy Kudo
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Christopher Ivanyi may become a household name among UCLA
employees.

That’s because this summer, Ivanyi won a grievance filed
against the university challenging his status as a “casual
employee,” and in some ways challenging everyone’s
status.

“It’s a precedent-setting case that we think, based
on that, we can file a grievance for as many as a few thousand
employees across the state,” said Sean Leyf, an organizer for
the University Professional and Technical Employees union which
filed the grievance for Ivanyi.

Recently, union organizers have rallied to end long-term casual
employment in which employees work for 364 days a year, are fired
for a day, and then rehired for another 364 days so that they are
not eligible for benefits.

In some cases, the employees work eight hours a day and have
been at UCLA for many years.

Though Ivanyi won his case, it does not set a precedent in the
legal sense, but rather shows an increased likelihood for similar
rulings to be handed down in related cases, both union and UC
officials said.

In labor relations, when a union feels a contract violation has
occurred, meetings are held and then if the two parties don’t
arrive at a resolution, the matter goes before an arbitrator from
the Public Employment Relations Board, the state body governing
such disputes.

Barry Winograd, arbitrator of the grievance, declined to comment
on the implications of the ruling, but university officials said
although it’s too soon for either side to make claims, the
decision could be significant.

“The arbitrator who hears the big case will definitely pay
attention to the Ivanyi case,” said Bill Candella, who
handled the arbitration for the university. “However, he
doesn’t have to follow it.”

Currently, the union is looking to file a group grievance on
behalf of other employees unless the university will grant other
casual employees career status without legal intervention, Leyf
said.

Additionally, after the UC finishes revising its labor policies,
long-term casual employment could become a non-issue, Candella
said.

“Certainly if they raised an issue which we didn’t
think we could dispute, we’d try to resolve it short of going
to a full-on grievance,” said Lynne Thompson, manager of
human resources at UCLA.

The university, in recent contract negotiations, has offered to
end the possibility of casual employment by changing its policies,
union organizers said.

But organizers are still looking for retroactive benefits for
casual employees, because simply getting career status now will not
account for past years worked, which can determine future benefits,
like retirement.