Forced days off disputed

The decision to close campus facilities in the UC system during
the holidays has left certain union employees with the choice of
either taking unpaid leave or using their vacation days for the
forced days off.

The university plans to close certain buildings on campus as it
did for the first time last year, in order to save money on
utilities.

To compensate for the lack of raises this year and for some of
the forced days off, the UC initiated the bonus paid leave program,
which compensates employees with two additional paid days off
during the holidays.

The paid days off will automatically be given to university
employees who do not belong to a union, but the law requires unions
to reach an agreement with the UC in order to benefit from the paid
leave.

Some unions are concerned that the paid leave comes with the
condition of no raises, or because two days of paid leave is
insufficient to solve the problem of closure for two weeks.

Noel Van Nyhuis, a spokesman for the UC Office of the President,
said the system-wide negotiations for the paid days off have been
successful with all unions except for the union for University
Professional and Technical Employees and Coalition of University
Employees, with which they have not yet reached an agreement.

The unions disagreed with the condition of having to give up the
possibility of negotiating raises for this year, but Van Nyhuis
said raises are impossible given the UC’s budgetary
situation, and that the paid days off were a one-time program to
reward employees.

“We understand nobody likes to not get raises, but given
our budgetary circumstances we wanted to be able to do
something,” he said.

Van Nyhuis said the UC wants to give all workers the days off,
but that a resolution has not been reached with UPTE and CUE
because they are not willing to give up raises that would be
retroactive.

“Such a position is not only unrealistic given the
university’s budget, but would also not be equitable to other
employees who have not received pay increases,” he said.

Rita Kern, the president of UPTE, which represents university
researchers, technical employees and health care workers, said the
union’s contract expired in September, and has not yet been
renewed because the workers voted against giving up negotiations
for raises.

Kern said the two days of paid leave being offered by the UC
constitute less than one percent of their salary, and does not keep
up with inflation.

Kern said she believes the university has the money, and is
telling workers they are not the priority. Funds left over when
employees leave or are replaced with lower-paid workers could
provide a source for raises, she said, adding that the UC has told
them that they were investigating the possibility.

“We feel like we deserve more. We’re working very
hard because there have been budget cuts. People that are left are
doing more work to cover for people that are gone,” she
said.

UPTE filed an unfair labor practice suit in November, because
they said the UC changed the conditions of their employment after
their contract was up by requiring them to decide between taking
unpaid leave or using their vacation time.

They are also urging people to e-mail Joe Mullinix, who approves
the contracts at the UC Office of the President, and ask him not to
force workers to give up negotiations for raises.

Max Hechter, UPTE’s vice president, said the negotiations
were dividing coworkers and engendering bad blood between non-union
employees who receive the paid days off and union employees who are
not currently scheduled to receive them, punishing unions in the
process.

He said that UPTE’s decision not to give up the
possibility of pay increases may be seen as brought upon by
themselves, but that the union was only listening to its
members’ wishes, who voted overwhelmingly for raises over the
paid days off.

“When you look at the math they’re trying to buy us
off on the cheap, as I see it,” he said.

The union American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, which represents workers in housing and food service on
campus, came to an agreement with the UC that included the two days
of paid leave and three paid training days in exchange for no
raises last year.

Faith Raider, an AFSCME spokeswoman from the headquarters
office, said the majority of the union’s workers voted to
accept the days off because they thought it was the best the union
could do.

“People are really concerned about their wages because
expenses are rising,” she said, citing parking, health care
and rent expenses.

Raider said the union’s contract expired in January, and
that they were fighting for a more equitable contract that would
include a lateral transfer system for employees to work in other
jobs on campus while their facilities were closed, so they could
avoid a break in employment.

Hays Witt, a legal organizer for UCLA AFSCME, said the paid days
off do not compensate for the system in which workers are forced to
take two weeks of unpaid leave when housing closes for the
holidays.

“The two days of bonus pay are a small step in the right
direction of compensating folks that haven’t had any cost of
living increase since October of 2002,” he said.
“It’s a small, small step in making up what people have
fallen behind on for the past couple of years.”

Witt added that it was unfortunate that the university puts its
lower-level workers in a position where they have to choose between
being paid on mandatory leave or giving up a raise.

He said regardless of the union, campus workers were being
forced to make a choice that executives don’t have to
make.

“All of the support staff that make the university run are
kind of in same boat here, and its a boat that nobody should have
to be on,” he said.