Bargaining Update #5: July 18-20, 2001, Oakland / Berkeley
CUE and UC met July 18-20, 2001 in Berkeley and Oakland. CUE gave UC all
remaining contract proposals except for our wage proposal and for the
article about "no strikes." The union is working to develop its wage
proposal but is unable to complete it until we receive certain information
from UC.
CUE knows that UC has plenty of money -- in fact they have told us they
do. But this year, as we all know, the state budget will include much less
money for UC than was requested, and we expect that UC will use this as an
excuse to offer us almost nothing in wage raises. CUE's position is that
it is time for UC to admit that its pockets are deep and full, and that UC
can still afford to pay staff a fair wage. Meanwhile, we are working on a
comprehensive wage proposal to give to UC.
On Wednesday, July 18, our meeting was in Berkeley. During the lunch hour
over 80 local CUE members turned out for a spirited rally, chanting and
cheering in front the building where bargaining was being held, and giving
the UC bargainers a lively crowd to navigate in order to get to their lunch.
On Thursday and Friday, UC began to respond to CUE's proposals on over 25
articles. UC's chief negotiator gave us an overview of their position. In
general, UC's initial response is to keep current contract
language. However, they said they were still considering everything CUE
has put on the table.
One article we discussed at some length was Health & Safety. UC's position
seems to be that clerical workers do not need stronger language on Health &
Safety, and that UC has no interest in taking any further steps to prevent
UC employees from getting hurt or ill on the job. UC's position seems to be
that grieving disputes about unsafe or unhealthy working conditions is
unnecessary, and that it is sufficient that the only time workers may have
their concerns heard is after someone has been injured or become ill. We
spent a lot of time talking about ergonomics issues. CUE argued that UC
needs to dramatically improve how it deals with ergonomics on the job.
We discussed the grievance article in depth -- particularly the issue of
whether or not there may be a meeting between the grievant (and his/her
representative) and management at Step 1 of the grievance process if there
has already been an informal meeting. Current contract language allows a
meeting at Step 1 but does not allow for the union to count on this meeting
if there has been a prior informal meeting. CUE's position is that if we
are in fact going to be able to settle grievances at the lowest possible
step, we may need both meetings. UC's position is that very often the Step
1 meeting is not necessary and should not be held if, in UC's
guess/opinion, this would be a repeat of an earlier meeting. CUE focused
on a case in which a Step 1 meeting was denied even though there was new
information that had not been available at the earlier informal meeting. We
will continue to discuss this matter.
On Friday we met Peter Chester from UCOP Labor Relations, who is likely to
replace UC's chief negotiator Sharon Hayden when she goes on vacation
during the month of September.
Several Berkeley clericals dropped in to
observe bargaining, and we
appreciated their support.
Next bargaining dates are:
August 1 - 3 at UCLA
August 15 - 17 at UCSF
August 28 - 30 at UCSC
Please join us in bargaining when we come to your campus.
CUE's Bargaining Team:
- Margy Wilkinson, Chief Negotiator
- Chris Benoit, Lead Negotiator
- Mark Covington, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Becky Croll, Davis
- Piccola Evans, Berkeley / UCOP
- Deborah Freeman, San Francisco
- Jody Galluzzi, San Diego
- Elaine Hernandez, Irvine
- Jack Joshua, Santa Barbara
- Connie McGrath, Riverside
- Zoe Sodja, Santa Cruz
- Anita Windom-Jones, Los Angeles
