Librarians Mobilize for Merit Pay and Salary Increases

UC’s Unit 17 librarians returned to the negotiating table in early June for reopener bargaining over salary. The last reopeners, in 2008, which finally ended two years later in a state-mediated stalemate, had seen some progress made toward addressing the inconsistencies in the rank-and-step pay scale, though negotiations ultimately stalled over the amount of increase to the beginning step.

Thinking bargaining could resume where it was left following mediation, Unit 17’s Negotiating Team had their hopes dashed in short order: UCOP was now maintaining that, as UC’s budget situation was now even worse than last time, there was no point in even coming to the table. Concurrently, those represented librarians throughout the UC system undergoing merit review began receiving letters stating that, although they had been reviewed positively and would therefore be advancing, their merit pay was being held in abeyance pending conclusion of negotiations between their union and the Office of the President. While such an action would seem scarcely legal and at the very least punitive, a single sentence in the MOU—employed only once nearly twenty years ago—allowed the administration to do exactly that.

The Unit 17 team compiled and presented rafts of data detailing recruitment and retention problems, workload issues, and decreasing library services attributable to the 20-30 percent pay disparity between UC librarians and their direct counterparts in the CSU system and most California community college districts.  

If the retention data wasn't enough to convince them, during negotiations, one of our Unit 17 bargaining team members was lured away to a community college for a 30-percent pay increase.

A significant pay increase, moving UC librarians at least some way toward competitive market rates, would be even less expensive than in 2008 as our workforce has decreased nearly eighteen percent since that time. Unmoved, UCOP calmly ‘offered’ to restore the earned merit increases—for work that had already been completed and the candidates reviewed positively—with ‘zero’ pay increase if Unit 17 called a halt to negotiations by the 15th of July.

Apprised of this extortionate ‘offer’, the Unit 17 rank-and-file—already provoked by the withholding of merits—replied with a resounding rejection of this attempt to dismiss their concerns out of hand.  Negotiations by this time were going nowhere fast as UCOP folded their collective arms to wait the Unit 17 Team out, no doubt expecting an increasingly desperate rank-and-file to demand an end to negotiations to set free their deserved merit pay.

News that UC was to grant non-represented employees a three-percent ‘merit increase’—excluding represented employees—added fuel to librarians’ considerable ire. Impelled to action by the rank unfairness of such textbook union-busting tactics, Unit 17 librarians at eight of ten campuses sent letters to their respective University Librarians (and in some cases, Executive Vice Chancellors) asking to meet concerning the unfairness of the merit issue and the need for the Council of ULs to support the librarians on whom they rely and urge UCOP to negotiate in good faith. While some ULs met with their constituents, others invoked the well-worn Labor Relations ploy of deferring any discussion of work issue to the bargaining table.

Undeterred, Unit 17 members across the state undertook a postcard campaign that had originated with the UCSC librarians, soliciting parents and new students during Move-In Week, as well as staff, faculty, and community members to support UC librarians and libraries by urging UC to negotiate fairly. Thousands of cards—over 600 at UCSC alone—began flooding into mailboxes at the Office of the President.  Suddenly, negotiations began making progress.

In the next negotiating session, in late September, a tentative agreement was reached between the parties and will go to the rank-and-file for ratification in early October. Only through the concerted and decisive action of the members of Unit 17 was it possible to reach an agreement: reinstating the earned merit increases back to the 1st of July (when they should have taken effect); including represented librarians (whose last merit review was positive) in the faculty and non-represented three-percent pay increase, effective the 1st of October; and securing language that acknowledges the current pay structure is not conducive to recruitment and retention of UC librarians and will be a primary topic in successor bargaining in 2012. Although the Unit 17 Team wasn’t able to get everything they wanted—the odious provision of the MOU allowing the administration to withhold all pay increases during negotiations remains—there is no question our Team would have left the table empty-handed without the creative action and rousing support of the Unit 17 rank-and-file. 

The bargaining team would like to thank our bargaining committee members, and every librarian who participated in efforts to support negotiations.  We move forward a stronger union!

Ken Lyons

Librarian, UCSC