Reopener Bargaining Report #7

The University continues to offer no pay increase to UC clericals for October 2003; even while other groups of UC staff (for instance, top administrators, faculty and academic student employees) have been given increases.

BACKGROUND:
Wages were not increased, or settled, in the last major bargaining cycle, which ended in March 2003. A "reopener" bargaining team was established by CUE to continue bargaining on wages, parking and benefits. Reopener bargaining began in August 2003.

WHERE WE ARE IN THE PROCESS:
On Wednesday, April 14, 2004, CUE and UC agreed to a joint submission of a declaration of impasse in the reopener negotiations that began in fall 2003.

This means that the State of California's Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) will take a role in the bargaining process and send the two parties to mediation. Both parties have agreed on a mediator, Micki Callahan, head of the State Mediation Services. If mediation does not bring the parties to agreement, there will be a "fact-finding" process. At the end of that process, the University could either accept the recommendations of the fact finder panel or UC could ignore the fact-finders' recommendations and legally impose UC's "last, best, and final offer."

Attending the April 14 meeting for the University were: Sharon Hayden, UC Chief Negotiator; Michelle Lee, UC Assistant Negotiator; Therese Leone, University Counsel. At the meeting for CUE were: Mark Covington, CUE Chief Negotiator; Connie McGrath, Riverside Bargaining Representative and Ari Krantz, CUE Counsel.

Mediation is scheduled for May 18 and 19 2004, in Oakland.

The University bargainers indicated that the University would freeze some parking rates at Riverside, Davis, Santa Barbara and, perhaps, San Diego.

AT THE SAME TIME:
While this process unfolds, CUE and the University will begin a new negotiations cycle on the entire contract. Each campus local of CUE is selecting its representative to CUE's bargaining team, for which the CUE statewide Executive Board has selected Amatullah Alaji-Sabrie, Berkeley local 3 President, as Chief Negotiator.

CUE's Reopener Bargaining Team
Mark Covington, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Chief Negotiator)
Marian Chapman, San Francisco
Tim Dennis, Berkeley / UCOP
Carolyn Johnson, Santa Barbara
Lyn Kelly, Los Angeles
Laura McCann, Santa Cruz
Connie McGrath, Riverside
Linda Moser, Davis
Cynthia Norman, Irvine