Benjamin Powell: UC TAs should not expect wage increase
BY THE NUMBERS:
Minimum monthly salary for teaching assistants for half-time appointment:
$1,962
University of California$1,688
University of Illinois$1,525
University of Washington SOURCE: UCLA Office of Instructional Development, University of Illinois Academic Human Resources, University of Washington Graduate SchoolSUNSHINE DEMANDS FROM THE UC STUDENT-WORKER UNION
- Reduce ratio of graduate student instructors – including teaching assistants, tutors, readers – to undergraduate population
- Increased wages and fee remissions, job security, and improvements to health care and housing options
- Institute policies such as lower-cost dependent health care and expand childcare options
- Create a student-worker sabbatical period and revise leave of absence and in absentia policies
- Improve job security and transparency in hiring process
- Increase summer session compensation and benefits to match those of regular academic year
- Grant graduate student researchers collective bargaining rights
- Increased access for union to campus facilities
- Revise grievance procedure and contract durations
SOURCE: UC Student-Worker Union, UAW Local 2865 Sunshine Demands for 2013 Bargaining
Compiled by Loic Hostetter, Bruin senior staff.
By Daily Bruin Staff
May 12, 2013 11:55 p.m.
The original information box accompanying this article contained an error and has been changed. See the bottom of the article for additional information.
This article was updated on May 13 at 1:40 p.m.
On May 1, the UC Student-Worker Union made clear its sunshine demands for 2013. Among this list of demands is an increase in wages for University of California teaching assistants.
In this financial climate, however, the union’s demands, which also include expanded health options and sabbaticals for student-workers, are unreasonable.
Teaching assistants, who are hired on a “half-time appointment” basis and make up 84 percent of the union’s bargaining unit, should not expect their wages to cover the cost of living and education in much the same way undergraduate students should not expect a paid internship or campus position to cover theirs.
The lowest-level teaching assistants are paid almost $2,000 a month, according to the UCLA Office of Instructional Development website. Teaching assistants are expected to work no more than 20 hours per week, which constitutes a “half-time appointment,” said Alison Hewitt, a UCLA spokeswoman. The hourly wage for a TA then comes out to around $25 an hour.
Although the union’s requests come at an inopportune time, teaching assistants often have to go above and beyond their assigned 20 hours a week and often do deserve higher compensation.
The importance of quality instruction cannot be understated, and if teaching assistants are providing more than their assigned duties, they should be duly compensated. Surely we all remember a TA who has had a great impact on our undergraduate success, especially in those survey courses where one-on-one interaction was scarce.
The point is that given the financial state of California’s higher education system, increasing wages for teaching assistants should not necessarily be a priority at this time. As it stands, 90 percent of UC academic student employee salaries come from general funds – the same source that many other programs on campus use for funding, said Dianne Klein, UC Office of the President spokeswoman.
In a system frequently run down by budget cuts, belt tightening will inevitably hit every segment of the UC population.
While not enough to live on, a $25-an-hour part-time job that doubles as professional career training is hardly a slight to graduate TAs. Additionally, working as a TA can qualify graduate students for “fee remissions,” which subsidize education costs.
Serving as a teaching assistant is an important part of the curriculum for many graduate programs. It’s not meant to be a career or a way to pay the bills – it is first and foremost a means of receiving job training for academic-related careers.
Some graduate student teaching assistants report having trouble living off of TA wages. Stephen Morseman, a graduate student in political science, said while teaching is very rewarding, it can be difficult as far as living expenses go.
“I consider this a full-time job, and the TA stipend is just enough to get by,” Morseman said.
While it’s certainly important to adequately provide for TAs, covering costs of living is not something that’s necessarily guaranteed. The UC also has some of the more competitive TA wages available compared to other large research universities.
Some graduate students are concerned that unless TAs are better taken care of, future graduate students will choose to attend other universities.
Given the long-established reputation of an institution like UCLA, it is highly unlikely that prospective graduate students will suddenly begin choosing to further their educations elsewhere. Private institutions have historically been able to pay their employees more; there is no reason to think that this will suddenly result in an exodus of TAs from the UC.
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Correction: The minimum monthly salary for teaching assistants for half-time appointment at the UC is $1,962.
