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NOTES FROM THE BARGAINING STRIKE BUBBLE
by Bert Thomas, UCLA Representative, CUE BARGAINING TEAM
(A personal diary, not the Official Report)
STRIKE
(PRINT THIS. READ IT. PASS IT AROUND.)
It has to be said. It has to be done. Most people are not very brave when you get right down to it. The CUE Statewide Strike period of June 13 thru June 15 is not about how "brave" we are.
It's about a little ol' thing I like to call "betrayal"...The Betrayal of 2003-04. BETRAYAL of the public trust, BETRAYAL of commonly-held standards of decency and respect for taxpayers, the state Legislature, students and the families that support them, and BETRAYAL of the lowest paid and most dedicated workers of a "corporation" gone bloat on its own greed and financial duplicity. It's about offering a big, fat ZERO to 17,000 clerical workers for 2003-04 while pleading poverty...at the same time it approves $2.4 million in bonuses to "executives", people who never see a student or a patient. Call it "elitism"..."class war"..."Enron & WalMart, UC Style"...whatever you call it, it's been cruel and ugly for too long.
THIS STRIKE IS COMPLETELY LEGAL--because CUE has honored the process. That 2-year-old effort went to impasse, a Fact Finder, a judgment in CUE's favor by the Fact Finder, and the corporate university's choice to betray the process and ignore the judgment. (Which, by some quirk of fine lawyering, is also completely "legal".)
What choice do we have, actually? "Choose Cowardice"? "Choose Laziness"? Not exactly a bumpersticker that lights my fire. And not exactly a memory I'd cherish, or relish telling my grandkids about when I'm an old fart. (Oh wait a minute...I AM an old fart...but you get the idea.)
Withhold your labor. Do NOT cross the picket line. Join it! This is for you, your family, and your future. Ultimately, it's for the best interests of the University of California...but this current crew of pigs-at-the-trough can't see beyond their golden kibble to give more than lip service to your value as a dedicated worker who deserves a raise, rights, and respect.
Your supervisor/manager/warden will tell you the Strike's "not legal" or some crap. Your supervisor/manager is talking out of her/his neck...they don't know anything...only repeating what the fine folks in Labor Relations are ordering them to say. You may ignore them all. It's actually unlawful for them to talk to you about your "intentions" with respect to the Strike. The University has been properly notified. Any effort to threaten or intimidate you is an Unfair Labor Practice...but that won't stop them from trying. Just document it, tell them that's what you're doing, and call your Local CUE office. That will stop them, usually. They'll storm away in a snit. Your CUE attorneys want to know EVERYTHING.
At UCLA, call the Local 4 Staff, all of whom will be busy as heck...but be patient, please. We've got your back.
Solidarity is Intelligent. Fun. And Powerful.
NOTES FROM THE BARGAINING BUBBLE #15 detailing negotiations at the Berkeley Lab and UC Riverside--just concluded--will be forthcoming soon...as soon as I have more time to prepare them with my notes and all.
At Riverside last week, amid a storm of protest from the CUE team and Chief Negotiator Amatullah Alaji-Sabrie characterizing UC's Negotiator, Peter Chester, as "Dishonest!" three times, so that he grabbed up his team and strode out of the room...UC returned to lobby for a wage proposal that would have resulted in a raise of roughly 43 cents after FOUR years for an employee making $14 an hour...virtually all of it contingent upon whether or not the State Legislature pays for it. For this "generous" pay-bump, CUE would have to agree to what're called "pass-throughs" on Parking and Benefits at whatever rates the University sets. And agree to their No Strikes language. Call it an "Imaginary Pay Raise and a Blank Check" combo. Not too attractive, by golly. And when coupled with the fact that California's Consumer Price Index (what used to be called "cost of living") has risen by roughly 4% in each of the last few years...well, it's a pay-cut too ugly to wash down with that yummy UC Kool-Aid.
We voted overwhelmingly for a Strike. Now let's do it. We have nothing left to lose.
Blessins, and see you on the Picket Lines,
--BT (Bert Thomas, CUE's UCLA Bargaining Representative)
6.6.2005
Or get your Bubbles at the UCLA website.