Contract negotiations spark debate

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Contract negotiations between the University of California and a union that represents 1,200 graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants and tutors at UC Santa Barbara are quickly approaching a Sept. 30 deadline that if reached, some union members say could prompt a strike.
Daraka Larimore Hall, a UCSB sociology graduate student and a campus representative for the United Auto Workers union, which represents the students, said the UC has not been bargaining in good faith since negotiations began in March.


“This is something they try to do with unions across the campuses,” Hall said. “They think that they can exhaust us.”
Hall said several unfair labor practice charges were filed yesterday against the UC for not bargaining in good faith.
According to Hall, the UC has not reached a contract in the past four years with any union without employees striking first.
When asked about that statistic, Nicole Savickas, human resources and communications director for the UC’s Office of the President, said no strikes have occurred during her one-year tenure there and couldn’t vouch for past years.
Savickas did say the UC wants to agree on a contract every bit as much as the union does and claimed her employer is doing so in good faith.
“It’s unfortunate that the UAW feels that way about our bargaining,” Savickas said. “We feel that we have been bargaining in good faith and feel that we continue to bargain in good faith.”
Hall said if a contract is not reached by this Sunday, the union’s bargaining team will decide on whether a strike is appropriate.
According to a UAW web site, the average academic student employee at UC institutions makes $15,610 each year for part-time work.
The web site says this number is far below what competitor institutions pay and is about $5,000 short of what the UC says is the average cost of living for graduate students.
Savickas acknowledged that many of the UC’s 170,000 employees are being paid “lag” wages that are in the process of being increased.
“The university is actively working to address this issue for all employees,” she said.
Though the negotiations are taking place at the upper management levels of the UC system, Paul Desruisseaux, vice chancellor for public affairs at UCSB, said efforts have been taken by UCSB administrators to improve the conditions for its 1,200 academic student employees.
Desruisseaux said one example is the 900 bed San Clemente graduate student housing complex that is located on El Colegio Road and will be completed in the fall of 2008.
“We do think that we’ve done quite a bit in recent years to improve the prospects for graduate teacher’s assistants and students here at UCSB,” Desruisseaux said. “We support them in this.”
In the event that a strike does occur, Desruisseaux said the campus has not yet taken measures to offset any staff shortage that could result.
“I would consider that an undesirable outcome and we hope it doesn’t come to that, but if it does we will deal with it when it happens,” Desruisseaux said.
Savickas also said the UC hasn’t made plans to offset the effects of a strike.
“We have no plans in place for a staff shortage,” Savickas said. “Our plan is to go ahead with the wage negotiations and come to [an] agreement on a contract.”
In the event of a strike, Savickas said issues, such as staff shortages, will be dealt with on a campus by campus basis in order to ensure that students continue to receive adequate services.
Hall said that having to scrape by while trying to earn a graduate degree hampers his and other student’s ability to become the best and brightest students and professionals the workplace demands.
He said the UAW is also bargaining for revamped benefits packages that would among other things, insure the dependents who rely on academic student employees.
Hall said the current insurance package only insures the student employee.
If the union decides not to strike when the Sept. 30 deadline arrives, Hall said employees would continue working under their prior contract, which was agreed upon last year and was simply a continuation of a contract that was negotiated three years prior to that.
But like Desruisseaux and Savickas, Hall hopes middle ground is reached before a strike becomes necessary.
“We hope there isn’t a strike and we want a deal,” he said.