A State of the Union Report from UC-AFT President Bob Samuels

Dear Lecturer and Librarian colleagues,

On February 11, I testified at the Joint Legislative Oversight Hearing on Transparency and Accountability at UC.  This testimony builds on several years of work focused on increasing transparency in the UC budget.  One result of the hearing is that the Joint Legislative Audit committee initiated a new audit of UC finances due to UC's failure to account for the cost of educating undergraduates, and unresolved inequities in the way that state funds are distributed to the UC campuses.   Our work on transparency in the UC budget will result in more equitable funding for instruction across the UC campuses.  Here's a link to video of the hearing:  

UC-AFT State of the Union Report 

UC-AFT's recent work has focused on maintaining access, affordability and quality at the world’s greatest public university system. In 2014, UC-AFT began a new member outreach and education campaign, while continuing its work to stabilize and increase state funding for higher education, to increase transparency and fairness in the UC budget process, and to restore instructional resources for students and members.

UC-AFT has launched a major new internal organizing campaign called You See (UC) Democracy? which seeks to increase democracy throughout UC, but begins with building respect, inclusion and enfranchisement for union members within their departments, libraries and in the academic senate. This campaign builds upon UC-AFT’s leadership in the contingent faculty movement and advances the front beyond the necessary fight around pay and benefits to other core issues affecting educational quality. UC-AFT believes that these issues can only be addressed through a fully enfranchised teaching faculty.

The first step in this campaign is increasing union membership and member activism.  In 2014, UC-AFT recruited over 350 new union members, and we began building a network of union activists who will continue outreach efforts to new colleagues and non-members.

In preparation for the expiration of the lecturer contract in June 2015, UC-AFT conducted a statewide bargaining survey so our members could help identify and prioritize bargaining issues.  In addition, bargaining team members toured the campuses to discuss bargaining issues and gather input directly from union members.  Major goals for this round of bargaining are securing Social Security benefits for part-time lecturers, who don’t have access to the pension, and shortening the length of time to a continuing appointment.

In the libraries, UC-AFT has continued to mobilize a member led response to reorganizations taking place on several campuses.  The union has stopped several attempts to remove positions from the bargaining unit.

UC-AFT continued to work with Gov. Brown and the legislature to address inequities in the way UC allocates funding for undergraduate education. The union has shown that undergraduate tuition often subsidizes graduate education and instructional funds pad research budgets. As a result of this work, the governor included a requirement in the 2013 budget that the university account for the cost of educating various types of students.  UC has been slow to provide this accounting, but public pressure mounted after UC announced a new round of tuition increases this year. UC-AFT’s call for transparency in the cost of educating undergraduates has been a key line of defense against new tuition increases.

UC-AFT’s work on budget transparency exposed UC’s practice of redistributing tuition dollars and state funds disproportionately to the flagship campuses in Berkeley and L.A. Tuition dollars now remain on the campus where tuition is paid.  In response to this change, UCB and UCLA have dramatically increased their enrollment of out-of-state students to secure the much higher tuition they pay.  Berkeley’s freshman class in 2014-15 academic year is 30% out-of-state and international students.  UC-AFT is now working with the state on a plan to cap out-of-state enrollment and to redistribute the additional funds generated by these students to campuses serving California residents. The union’s work on UC budget transparency has resulted in a more equitable distribution of funds for instruction across the UC system. 

UC-AFT has been a thought leader in the policy discussion about free public higher education.  Bob Samuels’ book, Why Public Higher Education Should Be Free, was influential in the Obama administration proposal to make community college free.  UC-AFT is working hard to increase budget transparency at UC so that more money will become available to support the instructional mission of the university.  At the same time, the union recognizes that national reforms are necessary in order to secure adequate funding for higher education in the future.