Letter of Support: Brian Harvey

The following letter was written by a lecturer in UC Berkeley's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department. Brian Harvey also donated $500 to CUE's strike fund (see Harvey's #9).

Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002
From: Brian Harvey
Subject: CUE strike next week

Dear Colleagues,

The Coalition of University Employees (CUE), representing administrative and childcare staff, will be striking August 26-28. The nurses at Tang have announced that they will strike in sympathy. My old union, the AFT, is announcing the results of a strike vote (which already has strike sanction of the Alameda County Labor Council if approved by a member vote) by non-Senate lecturers today at noon at a pre-strike rally in Sproul Plaza.

I have a lot of sympathy for this strike and our co-workers' efforts to put a halt to UC's pattern of gratuitous law-breaking and continuous bad faith in bargaining. (This isn't just propaganda; I was once on an AFT bargaining team and I saw the process first-hand.) The outcome of the negotiations affect students as well as the workers themselves; one of the issues under discussion is inadequate staffing levels among the people who see students and solve their bureaucratic problems.

I am going to be doing all that I can to stand in support of staff on strike and I hope you will as well. Some things you could do:

1) Attend today's rally at noon on Sproul. Even Mayor Shirley Dean is attending.

2) Do not work on campus Monday, August 26 to Wednesday, August 28.

3) If you do come to work, do your job only. Do not do work that would have otherwise been done by staff on strike. It's the beginning of the semester; you will have your hands full without trying to cover for others. This one is really important.

4) While some classes across campus are being cancelled (some academic departments have said they will close down entirely), if you decide to hold class, you could do so off-campus (putting signs on the doors to the normal class rooms) or after dealing with administrative matters you could take advantage of this "teachable moment" to have a discussion in class about why people are on strike, or you could announce that the rest of the class will be held out on the picket line and lead the class over there. At the very least, at the end of class, you could announce that you will be going to spend time on the picket line and encourage your students to join you.

5) Promise not to drop students who honor the picket line and do not attend class during the strike.

6) Spend time on the picket lines; the closest one will be at Northgate, but they will be all around the perimeter of campus and go up as early as 6am (no later than 7:30am) and be up until 5:30 or 6pm each day.

7) Wear a button saying "I support UC unions" -- available at the rally today and probably in Michael-David's office (379 Soda) after today's rally -- especially during the days of the strike.

8) Look for updated information at http://www.cueunion.org/berkeley/strike2002.php (still under construction) or just www.cueunion.org.

9) Make a financial contribution to the strike fund CUE will use to provide some financial relief to striking clericals for whom even 3 days without pay is a hardship (I believe they are offering $60/day to help offset that sacrifice). Checks can be made out to CUE Local 3 (write "strike fund" in the comments section) and either given to picket captains or mailed to CUE Local 3; 2142 Oxford; Berkeley, CA 94704.

10) Particularly for faculty and staff who have good relationships with our current Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Paul Gray, give him a call (642-1961) or an e-mail (pgray@uclink.berkeley.edu) and ask him to continue the College's history of supporting our staff and use whatever leverage he has with the Chancellor and people at system-wide to urge UC's bargaining team to come back to the table and try listening for a change.