On Wednesday, November 13, 24,000 service and patient care workers of AFSCME 3299 will conduct a one-day unfair labor practice strike in response to management continued violations by the university outsourcing restrictions in the AFSCME contract, which result in job loss for UC employees and undermine job security, pay and retirement security for contract workers.
I want to thank everyone who attended, presented, and participated in our leadership conference at UC Irvine on October 26. It was a great day and I hope that we all learned a lot!
Both parties exchanged initial proposals in full (with the exception of a few items that will be forthcoming - such as salary scale from our side). Each bargaining team took some time to review the other’s proposal.
Ours was comprehensive (approx. 25 pgs) and aimed at codifying many of the things we want/need to protect with new administration coming in, cleaning up problems that were revealed since the current contract went into place (issues with EDP, movement on the salary scale with new credits earned, etc), and ensuring our contract provides working conditions that are as good as the learning conditions that we offer at Preuss.
When UC management wants to go backward with major takeaways (such as eliminating all rights to reappointment for pre-continuing faculty and making it easier to lay off continuing faculty), bargaining feels like being stuck in a time warp. With camp and flair, UCSC activists showed admin that they can’t just cast us off into another dimension. More than 200 UC-AFT members, undergraduate students, graduate students, and tenure-track faculty allies put on a Rocky Horror-themed rally with the message that we love teaching UC students too much to let their education get lost in time, lost in space and meaning.
Andrew Tonkovich has taught full-time as a lecturer at UC Irvine for most of his 22 years in the English Department's Composition Program. When he needed paid medical leave after brain surgery, the University denied his request twice. UC-AFT, the union that represents UC lecturers and librarians organized, and the University caved.
Victory for Andrew… Every Lecturer Deserves this Benefit
Negotiations at UCI began with a warm and heartfelt statement of gratitude from UCI lecturer, Andrew Tonkovich, who had just heard the day before the UC management granted his full paid medical leave for Fall quarter. We made progress delivering our initial proposals on Continuing Appointment Review Process, Merit Review Process and a new Review Criteria article. UC managers proposed drastic reduction in the length of notice in the case of layoff.
Faculty equity...Who needs it? UC negotiators do not think we do!
Our team came to Berkeley prepared with member testimonials, a research based presentation on the efficacy of student evaluations in measuring teaching effectiveness, with detailed questions about UC's proposals and with proposals of our own. Read the full update for all the important details from this two-day session.
Initial Proposals Passed
Andrew Tonkovich has taught full-time as a lecturer at UC Irvine for most of his 22 years in the English Department's Composition Program. When he needed paid medical leave after brain surgery, the University denied his request twice. UC-AFT, the union that represents UC lecturers and librarians organized, and the University caved.
