Press Release (1/13/03)

UC is failing Ethics 101

COALITION OF UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEES
State Headquarters: 2855 Telegraph Av., Berkeley CA (510) 845-2221 Fax (510) 845-7444
http://www.cueunion.org

NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Margy Wilkinson
Sharon Cornu (510) 594-0224, (510) 207-9556

UC is failing Ethics 101

Clerical workers take contract fight from streets to NY Times

Berkeley, Jan. 10 -- Clerical workers who took their contract struggle to the streets last year are taking it to the pages of the New York Times in 2003.

The Coalition of University Employees, representing 18,000 clerical workers at University of California facilities, urges the Board of Regents to stop rubber stamping the illegal bargaining tactics of UC administrators in a full-page advertisement scheduled for Monday, January 13. The ad recognizes 49 legislators who have signaled their support for clerical workers at UC, including Lt. Gov Cruz Bustamante, also a UC Regent.

Regents will meet in San Francisco on Wednesday and Thursday, January 15-16. In November, as the ad notes, Regents voted to make market-rate salaries for staff a top priority.

UC management is celebrating financial growth by offering workers a net pay cut. Senior Vice President of Business and Finance Joseph P. Mullinix has trumpeted an 11% increase in operating income, increased grant and revenue income, increased state funding and increased private donations. See http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/cao/reports/2002/svp.html.

UC's response to this good fortune is to hit workers with increased health care premiums, co-pays and parking fees, while eliminating merit (longevity) raises.

Top-level managers received increases up to 25% last year. UC has more than $4 billion in unrestricted funds, according its latest updates at http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/cao/reports/2002/pdf/assetsetc.pdf.

The Coalition of University Employees represents clerical employees, including administrative and library assistants, cashiers, public safety dispatchers, and child care workers, at the nine UC campuses, associated medical centers, Office of the President and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Clerical workers struck Berkeley/UCOP, Davis, Riverside, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz in August and October 2002 over the University's unfair labor practices.

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For more information, contact:
COALITION OF UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEES
2142 Oxford, Berkeley CA 94704 (510) 841-0700
www.cueunion.org