FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: UC-AFT Librarians Ratify New Contract
Media contacts:
UC-AFT President Katie Rodger (408-623-2601)
UC-AFT VP of Unit 17 Kendra K. Levine (510-918-6093)
UC-AFT Communications Chair Caroline Luce (860-778-8580)
Librarians at the University of California, represented by UC-AFT (University Council, American Federation of Teachers), voted by an overwhelming majority to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement on Monday. The agreement comes after over a year of negotiations, with 22 sessions on five campuses across the state. 92% of UC-AFT members participated in the vote and 98% voted yes to ratify the agreement.
UC Librarians are stewards of one of the largest library systems in the world. They include archivists, cataloguers, instructional librarians, system librarians, and copyright experts who provide the critical infrastructure of the university. But decades of budget cuts have resulted in library closures, staff roles left unfilled, and reductions in critical services: since UC-AFT negotiated its first contract in 1983, the student population has increased 215% while the number of librarians employed has stayed the same.
“From our first bargaining session one year ago, we made it clear to the university that our members deserve professional recognition and compensation for all of the work they do to advance scholarship, research, and teaching at our university,” says Kendra K. Levine, lead negotiator for UC-AFT. “Our all-volunteer bargaining team fought hard to improve working conditions for our colleagues, particularly those at the lowest ranks of our salary scale.”
In addition to salary increases of 21.43% over the life of the contract, UC Librarians won expanded access to professional development funding, including per-capita allocations of professional development funding of $1,250 for each librarian and a 45% increase in the annual University-wide research fund. They won a new article on academic freedom and additional layers of protection to address the rare instances when a librarian faces a potential termination decision. The new agreement also creates new protections for remote work and flexible work arrangements as well as new protections against unilateral increases in workload. Learn more about the contract at https://www.uclibrarians.com/ta-summary/
“We’re very proud of the gains we’ve made in this new agreement,” Levine adds, “But they will mean nothing if the systemic defunding of our libraries continues. We call on UC management and the state of California to properly fund its library system so that our colleagues and students continue to have access to the skilled and experienced librarians that UC students deserve.”
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