UC lecturers continue negotiations, may strike

By Sabrina Singhapattanapong
DAILY BRUIN REPORTER
[email protected]

The University Council of the American Federation of Teachers
““ the UC lecturers’ union ““ continues to push for
more job security and higher salaries in upcoming contract
negotiations.

Both the union and the University have been negotiating a new
contract for nearly two years and will continue bargaining
throughout the summer. If nothing is resolved by fall, lecturers
may strike, some say.

The quality of undergraduate education is at risk if the
university continues to ignore lecturers’ demands, union
members say.

“If we’re not being treated well, what does that say
about how important undergraduate education is to the
university?” asked political science lecturer Robert
Hennig.

UC lecturers teach about 50 percent of the undergraduate
population at most UC campuses, but they receive no tenure and are
paid lower salaries, Hennig said.

The existing contract, which actually expired June 30, 2000,
stipulates that lecturers are hired on an annual basis until they
complete their sixth year, according to the UC Office of the
President.

The contract also states that lecturers must undergo a review
every three years to be re-hired once they pass their sixth year at
any given UC campus.

Patricia Gilmore, a writing program lecturer for 20 years, does
not consider those three-year renewals adequate job security.

“We’re at risk again (after three years) ““
even those of us who have been here for 20 years,” she
said.

UC spokesman Paul Schwartz said a certain amount of turnover
among lecturers is both natural and appropriate due to the evolving
nature of the university’s academic programs.

The turnover rates may be due to changing budget constraints for
various academic programs, Schwartz said.

But the UC feels lecturers are important and help the university
fulfill its teaching missions, he added.

In the most recent contract proposals to UC-AFT, the UC offered
a salary range of $32,000 to $100,000 to UC lecturers for nine
months of teaching, UCOP said.

The bottom salary range will be increased by 5 percent upon the
contract’s ratification, according to UCOP.

The problem is that there is no guarantee of salary increases,
despite the UC’s proposed range increase from the existing
contract’s range of $28,000 to $95,000, Hennig said.

Lecturers want higher pay raises, other than the 0 to 2 percent
cost of living increases the UC usually offers, said Jeremy Elkins,
UC-AFT president.

Lecturers, unlike tenured professors, can be asked to leave if
there is no longer a need for them, said Miki Goral, UC-AFT
treasurer.

Professors are granted a job for life unless they do something
terribly wrong, and lecturers are not required to do research like
professors are, she said.

The UC’s current proposal offers merit-increase reviews
once every three years for continuing appointed lecturers, rather
than the two merit reviews offered during lecturers’ entire
employment term in the old contract, according to UCOP.

If a new contract is not settled by fall, UC lecturers may
strike, Hennig said.