UC can raise pay, union leaders say

By Robert Salonga
Daily Bruin Staff

The University of California’s assertion that there is no
money in the budget to increase staff salaries is false, union
leaders said in a workshop Wednesday.

Members of the Coalition of University Employees who met in the
Jules Stein Eye Institute maintain there are funds in the 2002-03
UC budget for its requested 15 percent staff salary increase.

“The reality of the UC budget picture is not nearly as
bleak as people have been led to believe,” said CUE President
Claudia Horning.

Horning referred to the recent economic downturn in the state,
which has prompted the UC to prepare for up to a 15 percent, or
$475 million, cut from its state budget.

Since the state accounts for less than 30 percent of the UC
budget, the university should not use state troubles to explain
small salary increases of up to 2 percent, she said.

According to CUE, increases for the 18,000 UC clerical workers
it represents would cost the university $61.2 million of its
approximate $13 billion budget. Workers earn wages that are 21
percent below market standards, Horning said.

But university officials see the salary increases as neither
feasible nor practical, given the state’s current economic
conditions.

“The fact is that in all likelihood, the UC is facing
substantial reductions to state funding next year,” said
Steve Olsen, vice chancellor for budget and finance.

“I don’t believe it would be prudent to be granting
extra salary increases at this state without current funding to pay
for them,” he continued.

CUE is making its move in the midst of marginal pay increases
throughout the university.

The UC Board of Regents approved a 2 percent general salary
increase for the 2002-03 fiscal year during its Nov. 15 meeting.
Two days earlier, Gov. Gray Davis had announced $2 billion in
mid-year state budget cuts, and called on the UC to reduce its
current budget by $86 million.

“The reason we’re offering these salary increases is
because of reduced funding from our partnership with the
state,” said UC Spokesman Paul Schwartz.

The partnership is an agreement between the governor and the UC
to increase state funding proportionally to university growth. The
UC anticipates Tidal Wave II, the influx of 60,000 students to the
UC over the next decade.

“The money received from the state drives systemwide
salary policies,” Schwartz said.

In November, the union’s contract with the UC expired. As
a result, CUE members do not have to abide by no-strike policy,
dictated in the CUE-UC contract. The expired contract also means
the union cannot take part in employee grievances with the
university.

Both parties are in negotiations. Included in the union’s
proposals are reduced tuition for dependents of clerical workers
and consistent pay between workers at different UC campuses
performing the same job.

The contribution of clerical employees is “important to
the ongoing success of the UC,” Schwartz said, but some union
members were not satisfied by the university’s response.

“Their bargaining team doesn’t know what’s
going on or is just bluffing,” said Kathy Kasten, treasurer
for the union’s Los Angeles chapter.

CUE, which meets with the UC monthly, was formed in 1995 and
achieved UC recognition in 1997. At UCLA, the union represents
4,000 employees.