12/18/02 Wilkinson Reply

December 18, 2002

Sharon Hayden
UCOP Labor Relations
Office of the President
300 Lakeside Dr
Oakland, CA 94612

Via: FAX 510/268-0602 & US Mail

Dear Sharon:

I am writing in response to your letter dated December 10, your email of December 11, and our phone conversation of yesterday, December 17.

On December 5, CUE proposed that we continue the bargaining process with the assistance of Micki Callahan, Director of the State Mediation and Conciliation Services. As we have stated, we adamantly oppose impasse because of the legal implications and ramifications of that process. At the same time, we recognize that voluntary mediation with an experienced mediator is likely to move the process forward and help the parties achieve their goals. Our goal is to bring bargaining to a successful conclusion, which means reaching a tentative agreement on a full contract which will be ratified by our members. We’re not there yet.

I am pleased to note that in your email of December 11, after talking directly to Ms. Callahan, you share our assessment that “we could use her services effectively.”

For this reason, as I stated in our telephone conversation, I am deeply troubled by the University’s efforts to condition the mediation on CUE giving up many of its legal rights. I note that your December 10 letter pre-dated your conversation with Ms. Callahan, and perhaps your conversation with Ms. Callahan has allayed some of your concerns about the process.

First and foremost, mediation is a voluntary process that can only work if both parties freely choose to take part. As a corollary, either party can choose to withdraw from the process at any time. For these reasons, the University’s preconditions seem both unnecessary and destructive of the process.

In the spirit of moving the process forward, I nevertheless will respond to the three concerns that you raised in your letter. First, you are concerned about CUE striking during mediation. As I have told you, CUE has no immediate plans to strike and we have pledged to provide UC with reasonable notice if and when that changes. More to the point, however, if CUE does strike, UC can exercise its right to withdraw from the mediation process, if that is what it chooses to do.

Second, if the mediation is not successful, you want CUE’s assurance that it will not impose a renewed request to move to impasse and that it will forego post-impasse mediation. As I stated to you in our telephone conversation and as I’ve reiterated above, we see pre-impasse mediation as a voluntary and mutually beneficial process, and we do not believe that we should have to waive our legal rights in order to engage in this process. That being said, if mediation is not successful, we will give strong consideration to Ms. Callahan’s recommendations, as I’m sure PERB will. Finally, we want to enter mediation enthusiastically and openly, and not with a preconception that the process will fail.

We look forward to UC’s clear commitment to engage in the voluntary mediation process. As we have discussed, both Micki Callahan and the CUE team are available to meet on January 14 to review where we are and to work out the ground rules for our mediated bargaining. If you have remaining concerns, I suggest that we meet with Micki Callahan directly - hopefully before January 14 -- to see if we can’t resolve them.

Happy holidays. I will be available via my cell phone during the holidays. I hope to talk to you soon.

Sincerely,

Margy Wilkinson
Chief Negotiator, CUE

cc: CUE Bargaining Team
Director Micki Callahan, SMCS
Claudia Horning, CUE President