| Coalition of University Employees (CUE) | 2855 Telegraph Ave., Suite #302, Berkeley, CA 94705 Contact CUE (510) 845-2221 (phone), (510) 845-7444 (FAX) |
| Santa Barbara Local #1 |
Chancellor Henry Yang
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Dear Chancellor Yang,
We have mobilized today to implore you to stand up for your clericals. We have been in bargaining over 2 years now and have been told that our salaries lag an average of 21% below that of other clerical workers in comparable jobs. We know the state legislature just allocated another $19 million to help augment the salaries of lower paid employees and we know that UC has another $1.9 billion in unrestricted surplus funds. But we are told that, even though the University is able to afford it, clerical salaries are not a priority budget item. If that's true, we feel your priorities are all wrong.
Many clericals hold 2 or 3 jobs to help make ends meet, and some are eligible for low-income housing and food stamps. Your own managers, directors, and administrators complain that they can't retain good workers nor recruit qualified applicants for the many positions that remain unfilled.
Today, a delegation of workers from the Coalition of University Employees (CUE) is delivering a stack of petitions to University President Richard Atkinson that has been signed by over 4,300* faculty, staff, students, and other sympathetic taxpayers and voters. The petition is a means of showing support for clericals and challenges the University administration to provide decent wages.
What will it take, Chancellor Yang, for you to change your priorities and lend your support and influence to our cause? We call upon you to put pressure on the Office of the President to settle this contract and give clericals the pay they deserve.
*(a later count determined that well over 8,000 signatures had been gathered)