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NOTES FROM THE BARGAINING BUBBLE #7
by Bert Thomas, UCLA Representative, CUE BARGAINING TEAM
(A personal diary, not the Official Report)
at UC SAN DIEGO - OCTOBER 26-28, 2004
TRICK OR TREAT AT "STALAG" SAN DIEGO
Returned from UC San Diego with upper-respiratory symptoms and a whole new respect for the CUE people who work in that remarkable Labor Relations environment. The two things are connected, I'm pretty sure... the "symptoms" and the "environment". Even the University team -- reduced to 3 members by session's end -- was, um, "critical" of the performance of UC San Diego's Labor Relations Department.
Our contract discussions with the University team were actually quite productive, notwithstanding the inhospitable treatment at San Diego. We nearly finished the long "demand/explanation" phase. Another meeting, mid-November in Berkeley, ought to do it. Then we'll begin to draft the actual contract, including Wages. I've seen a draft of the Official Bargaining Report, and I commend it to you for a better summary of the details of this San Diego session. Just now, I've got other fish to fry...
WHAT'S THAT FISHY SMELL?
Must be MICHAEL MELMAN & ROGERS DAVIS...the dynamic duo of San Diego Labor Relations...the Batman & Robin...the Abbott & Costello...the Beevis and Butthead. And don't mind me, but I think I'll just toss in the name of BOB DYNES, the former Chancellor at San Diego, now President of the whole UC system, under whom these avatars of Human Resources? Crowd Control? Animal Husbandry? refined their craft for how many years? Good job, Bob. These silly buggers you left in command of "Abu" San Diego couldn't tell the difference between your team and ours, and slapped us both. By the third day, most members of the University team refused to meet in the room provided -- a dis-used and evil smelling "stage" adjoining a noisy student pub -- couldn't breathe, couldn't hear -- and they went home a day early. Couldn't blame them, either.
BACK-DOOR BOB
Mind you, we could've held all our meetings at the hotel where both teams were staying. We did, in fact, on the second day, when it was raining more than historically usual in San Diego -- but we were making history with this session. It was the first time in recent UCSD history that labor negotiations were scheduled to take place ON CAMPUS. When Bob Dynes was still Chancellor there, he was known as "Back-Door Dynes"; a nickname that described his escape route from his office when any worker representatives came to call. This is the guy who employed and cultivated the aforementioned MELMAN & DAVIS fellas who still minister unto the worker flock at UCSD.
MELMAN & DAVIS as custodians of San Diego Labor Relations are a disgrace. Our San Diego CUEsters found meeting rooms... San Diego Labor Relations cancelled the rooms the night before without notifying either team. When CUEsters located other rooms...Labor Relations said these "weren't available" either. All except that musty, dusty "stage" at the pub. We were astonished to notice that not even Peter Chester of the Office of the President was able to move these amateur "caciques" out of the way. No doubt it was a dilemma for "Back-Door Bob"...whether to support the policy he'd endorsed (and enforced) as Chancellor of UCSD, or to support the bargaining effort of Peter Chester from his new Office of the President. Apparently, he thought the "stage at the pub" was a suitable compromise...though Peter Chester agreed with CUE that it wasn't. The members of his team who went home early voted with their feet. "This is bull****!" Mr. Chester was overheard to say, "I've lost most of my team;" and, "Amatullah, if you want my signature on something regarding this, just let me know."
AWRIGHT, PETE! You go, dude! If nothing else is handy, why not just sign this "Bubble" and hand it to your boss. Ask ol' Bob how it serves the University's interest to piss off both sides of the bargaining table. He's left a couple of backdoor bubbas running things in San Diego. Are they just out of control? Melman, expecially. What is this guy? A Human Resources lab-test gone bad? His name was mentioned first and most often by literally everyone we talked to. San Diego Labor Relations didn't even send a representative to the Bargaining Table while we were in the neighborhood, a fairly amazing slap at the University team. Welcome to the trenches, Peter Chester. You are welcome to join our team any time. The pay sucks, but the people are nicer and the leadership is clearer.
MARYE ANNE'S NEW CRIB
The new Chancellor of UCSD, MARYE ANNE FOX, did not offer -- or dare -- to intervene. We are told she is busy with the rebuild of her official residence, reportedly costing $7.2 million. That's a heckuva fine official residence. Did Dynes trash the old place before he left? New drapes and wallpaper wouldn't do it? $7.2 million. My, my...And she's toughing it out in a humble La Jolla rental unit that costs $6,500 per month until the work's completed. The Regents paid her $87,500 for "relocation costs" from her former address in North Carolina. Is it just me, or is this beyond "goofy"? I'm thinking "obscene...insane". Yep, UC San Diego's unquestionably a special place. Perhaps when the pool's in and the paint's dry, she'll invite us to hold bargaining meetings there. (Most of the numbers above have come to light in the current Fact Finding hearings between the University and CUE.)
BRAVE SOULS, COURAGE IS BEAUTIFUL
And because there's nothing quite so good as a common enemy for driving opposing groups together, I'd have to say the two teams got on mostly well as the 3-day session came to a close. That and local support from the brave souls of San Diego CUE, including newly elected Statewide Treasurer Dorthea Stewart, past Local President Sally Hampton, current Local President Kathy Ciufi, Local V-P Denise Carignan, Board Representative Maria Figueroa, and a number of local members. Allen Allison of the UCSD library addressed the bargaining teams with his story of being an employee for 8 years who still can't afford to live alone, making pay of about $24,000 per year and forced to share a house with a married couple and a child.
Other unions of the UC Labor Coalition showed up to express their increasing interest and solidarity with the CUE Bargaining Team. At one time or another we saw and heard from Fred Lonidier of AFT, Carolan Buckmaster, local President of UPTE, Art Daly of UPTE, Jelger Kalmijn, Statewide President of UPTE, and even Ernesto Collosi of the ILWU (Longshoremen)! If I were in the Office of the President, I believe I'd be starting to see some writing on the wall...or, of course, you could just sit there and wait for something to hit the fan.
CUE's Chief Negotiator, Amatullah Alaji-Sabrie asked Peter Chester how he proposed to handle any of the "Demand to Bargain" issues that may arise during this period of contract expiration. He said he hoped to deal with them locally, on campuses wherever they arise...hoped not to debate them at the "big table". CUE's Amatullah replied that the spotlight of the table might be exactly where they belonged.
DON'T TRY TO EAT AT THE REGENTS' RETREAT
Maria LaBarrie & Lydia McCall regaled the table with their adventure of attending the Regents' Retreat held recently at Lake Arrowhead where they heard members of the UC Board of Regents ask someone, anyone, to please tell them "what a Regent is supposed to do", and request information from a source other than the Office of the President, complaining that they felt like "just a rubber stamp". Oh, my goodness...out of the mouths of babes.
At lunchtime, delicious plates of food were snatched out of the CUE observers' hands, more or less, by an officious female guardian, and Maria, Lydia, and Terri were told they were not welcome to have lunch there. Their story had the bargaining table (both teams) in tears of laughter at the pettiness of it all. Yes, "Back-Door Bob" had been present...No, he hadn't offered to help these nice CUE women who then had to drive into town for lunch.
And Regent John Moores -- in attendance, and recently mentioned in connection with insider trading to the tune of $500 million in a failing software company (Peregrine) whose Board of Directors he chaired at the time -- addressed the gathering to urge less funding for "outreach" to disadvantaged citizens of California, and more to big-money science...including Defense industries? Maybe even distressed software companies? Attaboy, Johnny. Show 'em how it's done. God, it just makes me bust my buttons to see high quality people with fine ideas providing leadership to our admittedly clueless Board of Regents. They deserve better. So do we. But deep inside, I prefer the honesty of people who admit they don't know what they're doing to those who only pretend that they do, while trying so very hard to stay out of jail.
CUE SAN DIEGO IS DA BOMB
Thanks, Dorthea, for "The Bubble Award"...made at home with loving hands and presented to your humble correspondent during our last session in San Diego. The good news is that even our UC friends are reading this partisan screed. The other good news is that "NOTES FROM THE BARGAINING BUBBLE" is now on the CUE website, linked somewhere under "Bargaining" and "Reports" at www.cueunion.org. Intended originally for the UCLA jurisdiction, this chronicle/diary/pasquinade has found a statewide audience, alongside our official bargaining reports. I am grateful and humbled -- however slightly -- by the happy enthusiasm of those who've communicated with me and the others on this happy and fearless CUE Bargaining Team. I believe that from our Chief Negotiator, Amatullah Alaji-Sabrie, on down...the union got lucky this time.
"COMFORT THE AFFLICTED, AFFLICT THE COMFORTABLE...
AND IF YOU SEE SOMEBODY SMUG, AFFLICT THEM A LITTLE EXTRA."
Raises, Rights & Respect are not unreasonable expectations in our working lives...though they've taken a beating here over the last 20+ years. We won't get fooled again. Thank you for being a CUE-Ball. Your membership and activism make you tall and better looking. And ready for whatever comes after that.
Our next Bargaining Session will be in Berkeley, November 17th & 18th. The Bargaining meetings are starting to draw a crowd and we'd love to have you be part of it.
Find out what you can do here at UCLA by calling our Organizers:
And please pass this "Bubble" to a co-worker, via email or photocopy... member of CUE or not. Especially those who have no email access in their workplaces. Print it. Make copies. Leave them where your boss can't miss them. If you've got a good boss, great! If you've got a stinker, let the games begin...Call CUE.
Blessins,
--BT (Bert Thomas, CUE's UCLA Bargaining Representative)
11.8.2004