UC-AFT Insider April 2009
UC‐AFT Insider
April 5, 2009
In this issue:
• New Faculty Majority Day‐ Changing UC’s Priorities
• UC Spends Big on Top Brass
• Higher Education March and Rally at the Capitol
• UC‐AFT Member Spotlight‐ Francisca James Hernandez, 2008 SUNY Prize
• Know Your Rights‐ Librarian Workload and Statement of Responsibilities
New Faculty Majority Day‐ Changing UC’s Priorities
UC‐AFT is participating in a national day of action on April 30 to raise awareness about the fact
that the majority of instruction in American colleges and universities is done by lecturers
working outside the tenure system. Lecturers across the state will be teaching classes outside
to increase our visibility on campus. The current budget situation exposes the vulnerability of
non‐senate faculty, as well as students and libraries. It’s time for UC to prioritize its education
mission. Please check the links below for more information on the New Majority Faculty.
http://www.cft.org/index.php/universities.html
http://thenewfacultymajority.blogspot.com
http://changinguniversities.blogspot.com
For a recent article in the Nation covering adjunct faculty issues:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090413/arana
UC Spends Big on Top Brass
The University of California's worst financial crisis in years has not prevented the hiring of high‐
salaried administrative talent or the awarding of pay raises, promotions and perks to a dozen
executives, university records show. Read more of this story:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi‐bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/25/BALI16MDSL.DTL
Follow this link to read an op‐ed response by UC Regent Richard Blum and President Yudoff,
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi‐bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/26/EDAF16N0HP.DTL
and this link for a great follow up article by the UPTE President at UCB, Tanya Smith, and the
CUE President at UCB, Kathi Young.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi‐bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/27/EDDQ16NSR5.DTL
Higher Education March and Rally at the Capitol
On March 16th, seven thousand students, faculty, staff and other community supporters, many
of them traveling hours in buses from schools around the state, marched and rallied in front of
the state capitol to protest cuts in public higher education. Watch the video of the rally below
to see UC Davis Librarian and UC‐AFT Local 2023 President, Axel Borg, and UCSC Librarian and
Unit 17 bargaining committee member, Ken Lyons comment on librarian negotiations and the
state budget.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUBwi5b7sJI
UC‐AFT Member Spotlight
Francisca James Hernandez
2008 SUNY Press Dissertation/First Book Prize in Women's and Gender Studies
Francisca James Hernandez won the 2008 SUNY Press Dissertation/First Book Prize in Women's
and Gender Studies, which came with a contract to publish her revised dissertation. The
dissertation title, and the current working title of the book is, "Marginalities and the Democratic
Imaginary of the Global Borderlands".
As a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities (2007‐2009), James Hernandez is affiliated
with and teaches in the Department of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley. Her dissertation is a
multi‐methodological ethnography about social inequality and liberatory possibility on the US‐
Mexico border during the intensification of neoliberal globalization there in the 1990s. The
study contributes a holistic perspective to studies of social inequality, the US‐Mexico border,
and neo‐liberalism in which marginalization and resistance are complex constructs of
race/ethnicity, gender and class that are also historically and geographically located and specific.
So, too, argues James Hernandez, are the alternatives workers developed, thereby materializing
a vision of social belonging and inclusion she calls the democratic imaginary.
If you’d like to have your publication, exhibit, or other professional work profiled in the UC‐AFT
Member Spotlight, please contact Bill Quirk: bquirk@ucaft.org
Know Your Rights‐ Librarian Workload and Statement of Responsibilities
In spring of 2008, UC‐AFT and UC agreed to new language in Article 6 of Unit 17 MOU that for
the first time gives librarians a contractual mechanism for controlling their own workload.
Article 6.A. states that a librarian’s workload cannot be unreasonable, or excessive.
Article 6.B.3 requires that any newly assigned work, temporary or permanent, be reduced to
writing, added to the statement of responsibilities, and reviewed with the librarian.
Article 6.B.4. provides an appeal process for librarians who feel that their workload is
unreasonable or excessive. If you have questions or concerns about workload, please contact
your Local’s field representative. Follow the link below to view Article 6 of the Unit 17 MOU.
http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/employees/policies_employee_labor_relations/collective_bargai
ning_units/librarians_lib/contract_articles/article_6.pdf
Membership
If you have not already joined the union, please fill out the attached membership form, or
download one from our website. You are represented by UC‐AFT, but representation and
deductions from your pay do not mean that you are automatically a member. You can mail the
completed application to the address on the bottom of the form, or contact your local staff for
assistance.
http://www.cft.org/uploads/uc/docs/memberform.pdf
The University Council – American Federation of Teachers is an affiliate of the California
Federation of Teachers, the American Federation of Teachers and the AFLCIO.