October 14-15, 2002 Strike

October 17, 2002

STRIKE SUCCESS! Dear Clericals, Child Development Teachers, and Dispatchers, It's over - FOR NOW. What an incredibly empowering two days!

The CUE Strike Committee wishes to thank all of you who participated in the two day strike, for having the courage to walk out, despite all of the threats, intimidation, and misinformation thrown at you by UC! We all saw firsthand that we are NOT ALONE in our fight. Every union on campus showed it's support in one way or another. UAW and CNA called a sympathy strike in support of us. UPTE, AFSCME, and Operating Engineers 501 all helped with the planning and had members out supporting us when they could. UC-AFT, of course, was striking with us. CSEA and SBPEA sent representatives to stand on the lines with us. The UC-AFT Local 1966 Librarians sent a letter of support and came to the lines to stand with us, as did many faculty and students. We have received word that the following departments were either shut down or were without clerical support: Sociology, Music, English, Housing Cashier's Office, Rivera Library, Anthropology, Nematology, Statistics, Math, and large sections of the Accounts Payable unit. The Math Department later called in scabs to cover. And there may have been more departments affected that have not been reported to us.

We shut down several of the construction sites on campus. Roadway, Yellow Freight, and UPS honored our picket lines, while FedEX DID NOT. Rita Skinner stopped a FedEx driver and asked him if he was aware that WE are the ones who scheduled shipments at this campus and that it is unlikely that we will be choosing FedEx from now on! Many faculty joined our lines on Tuesday and wanted to write their own signs supporting the workers!

One faculty member didn't cancel class but instead asked Sandy Oberlies, our strike chair, to speak to her 400 students about the strike. One faculty member asked us to send picketers to stand in front of his classroom to allow him to honor our picket lines and cancel class. Many classes were either cancelled or devoted to our strike. Faculty sent their students to our picket lines and asked them to write papers about the strike. What a real-life education these students got!

We received unsolicited offers to contribute to our strike fund from supporters. At noon, on Tuesday, there were approximately 500 people at our main picket line. A UAW student spent the ENTIRE day at that line calling chants, raising spirits, and working people into a fever of support. We called him our cheerleader!

For 2 days all you could hear around campus were cars honking their horns in support and whistles blowing and people yelling. Many of our picket lines were playing RESPECT, by Aretha Franklin, from a CD specially made for our strike by one of our members! At 4 pm on Tuesday, everyone came in from the 8 picket sites and marched to Hinderaker Hall. There appeared to be about 200 people at the rally. The chanting was deafening! We chanted the cadence "We don't know but we've been told...
UC's pockets lined with gold...
tricks and lies will not divide...
Workers marching side by side". We called for the Chancellor to come speak with us, we stood with our Coalition Banner and Mecha and yelled our hearts out. We've never been so proud! The campus police were absolutely great and accommodated us - they kept us safe, but didn't interfere with our freedom of speech.

There were three child development teachers who insisted on picketing outside of the Child Development Center. The Director called the police to complain that they were "harassing" parents in the parking lot. The police officer told them that he hadn't witnessed them doing anything like that (he had watched for awhile) and that they had a right to be in the parking lot, particularly since some parents had asked for Support Buttons. The harassment was obviously coming from the Director and NOT the teachers!

At our noon rally, Tony Giorgio, the Labor Relations Manager, came and stood outside our rally, we pointed him out and "introduced" him to the crowd. He was boo'd. Very satisfying! Although we had no TV coverage because they were covering the UC Irvine strike, closer to their home base in Los Angeles, we had articles printed in the Press Enterprise, Los Angeles Times, and San Bernardino Sun.

Our Strike Chair, Sandy Oberlies, was interviewed on KPFK, 90.7, Wednesday morning. We don't expect UC spokespersons to admit that the size and spirit of this strike took them by surprise. We don't expect UC spokespersons to admit that they are going back to the drawing board to reconsider their bargaining tactics. But we believe that this is exactly what is happening. How much more pressure will we need to exert? Maybe a lot, maybe a little, but what is certain is that we are here, totally ready to exert that pressure, until we see results that meet our needs!

A note to those clerical workers who worked during the strike: We know that many people were illegally intimidated by their supervisors to report to work and try to conduct business as usual during the strike, and we know that probationary, temporary, and part-time staff had special concerns. But we know that some people crossed our lines for other reasons, and that is disappointing. We urge these co-workers to follow a different course if there is a "next time" and do their fair share to bring bargaining to a speedy and just conclusion.

In the meantime, CUE stands behind our pledge to fully support any UC worker who encounters negative management response to his or her participation in this strike. Ways to help CUE's fight for fair clerical wages and working conditions: Please write a letter to Riverside Chancellor Cordova and/or UC President Atkinson (1111 Franklin St., Oakland, CA 94607) supporting our call for good faith bargaining, fair wages, and strong health & safety protections. Their email addresses are: france.cordova@ucr.edu and Richard.Atkinson@ucop.edu Please email CUE a copy of your letter: rivcue@earthlink.net See the letters of support and pictures of our strike.

NEWS UPDATES:
October 10, 2002 --- PERB issued another complaint against UC today. PERB issued the complaint filed by CUE alleging that UC failed to bargain in good faith by failing to provide CUE information required to bargain the two most important articles left on the table: Wages and Health & Safety.

UC did NOT receive a cut in the budget. They didn't receive what they asked for, but certainly did not have a budget cut. I would say that they intend to make the people (staff, faculty, students and all of the proposed cuts in departments/divisions) PAY for their unmet greedy plans.

CUE's PROBLEMS WITH UC UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES

CUE has over 30 unfair labor practice charges pending with the PERB. On October 10, PERB issued its tenth complaint against UC: "Failing to bargain in good faith by not providing CUE information required to bargain the two most important articles left on the table: Wages and Health & Safety." Our charge of misuse of temporary workers is pending.
WAGES
- UC withdrew has its wage offer of 1.5% for 2002-03 that was on the table for a year, blaming state budget cuts. UC now expects CUE to sign a contract NOW, but won't provide information on the range increase amount or date of implementation for four months.
- UC disingenuously claims it is offering 2% for 2001-02, but it counts 1% won in last year's bargaining but not paid until September 2001. The two-year offer still on the table is only 1%.
- UC blames its low wage offer on state cuts, but only 36% of clerical salaries come from the state.
- UC has a 28-32% overall clerical turnover. First year employees turn over at a rate of 54%. Overall turnover is 54% if limited-term employees, temps, and internal transfers are counted.
- UC manages to fund double-digit raises for executives already earning six-figure salaries. UC could fund good raises for clericals from its billions of legally unrestricted reserve funds; further savings could be realized by reducing the high cost of turnover.
- UC has cancelled the traditional merit/step increases that allowed clericals to advance within a salary range based on performance evaluations--after adding a new top step to each range last year.
- UC wages are inconsistent between campuses. For example, UCSC in the least affordable city in the nation receives at the top step of the Asst II range 7% less than the same step at UCB.
HEALTH & SAFETY
- UC does not enforce health and safety protections already in the CUE contract. It spends much more fighting and paying Worker's Comp claims than it would cost to prevent injuries. Improving poor workstation ergonomics would be the most cost-effective first step.
TEMPORARY WORKERS
- UC agreed that temporary employees would be converted to career status at 18 months; President Atkinson promised the legislature that abuse of temps would cease. Yet in June 2002 UC terminated some 200 temps just short of 18 months for the sole purpose of avoiding conversion.

NEWS OF ACTIONS AT OTHER LOCALS THIS WEEK:

DAVIS -- strong noisy picket lines at 10 locations; about 100 at the main entrance to campus; closed two construction sites; strong support from students (Friday, 10/11 student body government voted unanimously to support strike); AFT reported between 120 and 150 classes shut down; excellent coverage on the local news; some departments closed -- a student called us to report that the Student Aid Accounting/Financial Aid office were devoid of clericals and that managers were trying to staff the office, not very successfully.

SANTA CRUZ -- good picket lines at 4 gates; 150-200 at main entrance throughout the day; Student Labor Action Coalition made two huge support banners and brought 2000 signed support pledges from students; very strong faculty support many departments completely closed; trades workers represented by AFSCME at SC) wouldn't cross the lines; visible support from SEIU, AFT, UPTE. Some problems with the campus police -- one student cited for "stopping traffic." About 500 people at noon rally. Campus reported quieter than during the summer between summer sessions -- parking lots empty, nobody walking around. Chancellor Marcie Greenwood was teaching her first class in the afternoon -- last report from the picket line was that several hundred strikers and community and student supporters were going to march on the Chancellor's class.

SANTA BARBARA -- picketing at 7 sites; lots of people, great spirit; some classes held on the picket line Russian, Music, Sociology); campus police very friendly and supportive. Teach in at noon with press 3 TV stations, radio, local daily paper and local weekly paper). About 150 present at teach-in. Spirit excellent. Many departments closed or hard hit Statistics, Women's Studies, Chicano Studies, Ethnic Studies, History, Dance, Writing, Italian, Sociology, Anthropology, Germanic Languages, Geography). UPS did not deliver to the campus and one FedEx truck turned around. TA's very supportive. One off campus site -- picketers had a stereo and were dancing on the sidewalk.