UAPD Strike January 27--Important Info for UC-AFT Members

Dear UC-AFT colleagues,

The Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD), which represents workers at the Student Health Centers on every UC campus, has announced a one-day strike for Tuesday, January 27, 2015. The strike is scheduled from 7AM on the 27th until 7AM on the 28th. We encourage you to support our brothers and sisters who are engaged in this strike; however, we also need to let you know the limits that our Contracts (MOUs) place on how we can support the UAPD strike.

This strike is as much about the needs of UC students for adequate health care as it is about the economic or other work concerns of the doctors and dentists who are going on strike. Their concerns focus on the reduced support for student health centers at UC which has diminished the ability of these workers to provide the quality of care they believe the students need and deserve.

The student health doctors, who organized their union with UAPD in 2013, are currently bargaining with UC for a first contract. In a series of membership meetings in December, over 90% of the student health doctors voted in favor of striking.

UAPD has filed multiple Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges against UC with the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB).  UC's behavior has made it impossible to reach a fair agreement at the negotiating table, even after a full year of negotiations, including 41 bargaining sessions, and the UAPD team's continuous effort to find middle ground.  

"A ULP strike is the only way to compel UC to follow the laws that govern bargaining," explained UAPD President Stuart A. Bussey, M.D.  "Unfortunately, UC has a history of disrespecting workers during negotiations, and we're no exception to that." 

Charles McDaniel, M.D., a psychiatrist who works at UCLA, said, "We organized a union so that UC would respect doctors, and take seriously its obligation to provide health care, including adequate mental health services, to the students.  We have been trying to reach an agreement at the bargaining table, but UC's ongoing unfair labor practices are standing in the way of that."

The UC-AFT does not have more information at this time about where strike lines will be set up but we will do our best to share what we find out about the details. 

Our contracts (MOUs) for Lecturers (Unit 18) and Librarians (Unit 17) prohibit our members from withholding their labor power (teaching or providing library services) in support of another unions strike. This is formally known as a “no sympathy strike clause,” which exists in most but not all UC labor contracts. The union and our members are also prohibited from encouraging other members of Unit 17 or Unit 18 to withhold their labor power. Violation of the no sympathy clause or encouragement to violate it can result in serious disciplinary actions against employees and fines to the union.

You have not given up your academic freedom or First Amendment rights to free speech and we encourage you to share your views about this strike and the issues that led to it freely and to express solidarity with the doctors on strike if you so choose. You are free to share your ideas with your students, your colleagues, or anyone else you choose. You are free to speak your mind and to publish your ideas. As long as you do not withhold your labor power or encourage your represented colleagues to withhold theirs, you are free to join picket lines or demonstrations, to sign petitions or letters, and, in general, to express your views in any peaceful non-violent manner you choose.

If picket lines are at the entrance of campuses, it may present difficulties for students (and others!). Students may have a hard time getting to class, even if they want to attend. Public transit may not operate as normal and picket lines may block access to automobile traffic. 

Given the possibility of access issues on the day of the strike, lecturers and other faculty may choose to have their class meet at an alternative time or place to avoid students having to confront crossing a picket line or facing other difficulties in getting to class. As the instructor of record of your class, it is up to you to decide the most effective and safest way to provide instruction for your students under the difficult conditions of a strike. This includes making choices about conducting exams and grading assignments that may be missed by students on the strike day.  We encourage generosity, but leave that matter to your conscience.

If you are threatened for free speech activities or making reasonable accommodations for your students, please let the UC-AFT know about it. We can help protect you, so long as you do not deliberately withhold your labor. If there is a picket line at the campus entrance and you feel unsafe crossing it, you do not have to risk physical danger to come to class or work at the library; however you may be required to testify later under oath that your decision was based on fear of personal injury rather than politics, so don’t use this as a capricious excuse.

The UC-AFT will be sharing more information with you about the particular issues at stake in this strike. We will do our best to keep you informed about what is going on as soon as we find out about it.  We encourage you to plan for ways to support this strike without refusing to carry out assigned duties in the library or teaching.