Editorial

The University of California needs to open up more to the
University Council of the American Federation of Teachers about the
rationale behind their recent contract negotiations offer.

The labor dispute involves the UC and lecturers who want higher
pay, more job security and a guarantee that third party mediation
will be available to hear disputes between the two sides.

The UC agreed to raise the minimum salaries for lecturers to
$41,712 for those with more than six years of experience and
$37,572 for those with less. Sadly, a lot of high school teachers
can boast a larger salary than what the UC is offering.

In terms of job security, current lecturer’s contracts
have to be renewed yearly for six years, after which they are
renewed every three years, contingent on evaluations of their
performance. This leaves lecturers and their families with a
constant sense of insecurity.

The main issue at the table now though ““ the one causing
the most disagreement between the two sides ““ is the issue of
a third party mediator for dispute settlement. The UC does not want
this included in the contract, but they have not been upfront
enough about why they oppose it. Without a mediator lecturers are
left to deal with the UC, which already has inherent leverage over
them as a function of being their employer.

Regardless, in order for the dispute to begin approaching some
sort of consensus, the UC needs to speak up and tell the union
about their concerns on the mediation issue. If not, the
lecturers’ union and the Coalition of University Employees
should expedite their talks about striking.