President Mia McIver's Public Comment at Regents Meeting Sept 13 2017

Good morning, Regents. My name is Mia McIver. I’m a lecturer faculty member at UCLA and president of UC-AFT, representing more than 5000 contingent faculty and librarians across the state.

President Napolitano, thank you for your leadership in defending DACA. We need to go even further and fight for permanent deportation relief and pay equity for all our undocumented students and co-workers.

UC-AFT is currently bargaining over new employee orientations and the implementation of Assembly Bill 119. UC admin owes its employees clear and consistent information about the terms and conditions of our employment and benefits. But Labor Relations’s reluctance to fully comply with state law betrays a total lack of respect for UC faculty and librarians.

We strenuously oppose tuition hikes. We strenuously object to raises for Chancellors when many contingent faculty earn less than a living wage and rely on public assistance to make ends meet.

We are outraged by the firing of valet drivers at the UCLA Medical Center. And we stand in solidarity with AFSCME, UPTE, and CNA as they bargain their next contracts.

Thank you.