UC’s offer to clerical staff is lacking

Horning is vice president of the Coalition of University
Employees.

By Claudia Horning

The University of California Regents will be meeting at UCLA on
Jan. 16 and 17 to discuss, among other things, the UC budget.

From the Daily Bruin to the Los Angeles Times, it’s
impossible to avoid grim news stories about the state budget. In
this context, how can we not agree to tighten our belts and make
sacrifices to keep the university afloat?

It’s time for a reality check: the university has enough
money in reserve to get us through lean times without raising
student fees, cutting vital programs, damaging quality research or
patient care. And the UC can afford to pay its hard-working
employees a decent wage!

How is this possible?

Confusing the UC budget with the California budget would be a
mistake. The UC is state supported, but most of its budget comes
from non-state funds. UC does a great job of lowering our
expectations and increasing student fees; low pay and cutbacks seem
inevitable ““ but the reality is, in spite of real budget woes
in Sacramento, the UC’s financial picture is quite
healthy.

The Coalition of University Employees hired an economist, Dr.
Peter Donohue, to review the UC’s financial records. Using
information supplied by the UC, Donohue found that in the last 10
years, the UC’s unrestricted surpluses have tripled, and now
total well over $3 billion. Unrestricted funds are funds the
university can use as it chooses, whether to fund salary increases
or keep student fees low. While the UC asks us to tighten our
belts, its surplus of unrestricted funds is growing out of sight
and out of reason.

At UCLA, a beginning clerk is paid about $20,160 annually. CUE
represents the 18,000 clerks, administrative assistants, library
assistants, child development teachers, dispatchers, etc. ““ a
large percentage of the many thousands of hard-working people who
keep this university running. The UC is offering CUE-represented
employees about a 1 percent pay raise (amounting to about $17 a
month for a clerk). In bargaining, the UC has been careful not to
say that it can’t afford better wages for clerical employees
““ only that our wages aren’t a priority for them.

What’s more, the cost of our health benefits is going up.
In this context, and considering increases in the cost of living,
the 1 percent the UC is offering is a virtual pay cut.

Just two months ago, the regents approved pay raises of up to 25
percent for some administrators (many of whom are already paid more
than the governor of California). The UC thinks this is fair!

We believe the people who have been setting the
university’s priorities must never have had to tell their
kids there will be no vacation trip this year, no movies this
month, no chance to move to decent housing. We expect that the
people who have set these priorities have never had to choose
between health care, nutritious food or field trips for their
kids.

We have to ask: What is the university’s priority?

Making the university accessible to the children of California
residents? Then the regents should keep student fees as low as
possible.

Quality research and health care? Maintain or increase staffing
levels, and make UC salaries competitive.

How can the university do this? By making a conscious decision
to use a small portion of its huge budget surplus, carefully saved
over years and years, to keep this university ““ its students,
patients, faculty, and employees ““ healthy.

Let’s put this in perspective. Take the 1 percent pay
increase the university is offering clerical employees. Using the
university’s own figures, CUE has shown that giving these
employees a 15 percent increase would cost less than 3 percent of
UC’s current unrestricted fund surplus. The money is
there.

The UC has earned its reputation as a great university, one of
the greatest public universities anywhere. What the current
administration needs to learn is that this reputation was earned by
the sustained and excellent work of staff and faculty.

As pay for staff and junior faculty slides, and job vacancies go
unfilled, the quality of this university will also slide. This is
inevitable, unless UC’s priorities are changed.

For ourselves, for California residents, for future generations
of students and patients, we urge the UC Regents to save this great
institution before the damage is irreparable. Make the university,
and the population it serves, your priority. CUE and other UC
unions will be at the regents meeting at UCLA on Jan. 16. We
encourage those who share our priorities to join us there.