2003-2004: Reopener Bargaining Update #3: October 21-22, 2003, Irvine, CA
CUE and UC met at UCSF, Laurel Heights on October 21 and 22. On October 22, CUE was presented with UC's counter proposal on wages. We regret to report that UC offered us no range adjustments and no merit increases for the year 2003-04.
Of the several inequity adjustments that CUE has proposed for particular workers, UC made no offer at this point. We believed that UC would at least move to bring equity to Library Assistants since UC bargainers have consistently encouraged us to believe that they were prepared to deal with the clear compensation lag for the beleaguered library workers. We were outraged that UC did not.
At this session, seven Library Assistants from UC Berkeley, representing all aspects of technical and public service work in libraries, made presentations on the complexity, importance, and high skill level of their jobs. Library Assistants are currently paid at much lower wage rates than are UC's ___Assistants.
During bargaining, UCSF clericals came out to support CUE's team, wearing t-shirts that reflected CUE's sentiments at the bargaining table -- for instance, "It's not a budget crisis, it's a distribution crisis," "The concrete never sets at UC," and so forth.
The CUE team will continue to urge UC to offer equity increases for Library Assistants and to move on CUE's outstanding demands for wage increases for all clericals, reduced costs for health benefits, for sliding scale parking fees.
CUE and UC will meet again on November 4, 5 and 6 at UC Davis. UC bargainers have said they are committed to discussing equity increases for Public Safety Dispatchers to ensure that public safety needs are adequately
met at each campus.
If you want more information, please contact your local bargainer.
Respectfully submitted,
CUE Bargaining Team:
Mark Covington, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Chief Negotiator)
Don Ciccone, San Francisco
Tim Dennis, Berkeley / UCOP
Nancy Kabzenell, San Diego
Laura McCann, Santa Cruz
Connie McGrath, Riverside
Lisa Morrill, Santa Barbara
Linda Moser, Davis
Cynthia Norman, Irvine
