Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 19:37:12 -0500 To: LABOR-RAP@csf.colorado.edu From: Christopher Rhomberg Subject: support UC grad student employees Dear All, here is a petition in support of the UC grad student employees, circulated by the Bay Area chapter of Scholars, Artists and Writers for Social Justice. Please take a minute and respond to the address indicated . The SAWSJ address is: ================================================= SCHOLARS, ARTISTS, AND WRITERS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE November 11, 1998 -------------------------------------- Phone: (413) 545-3541 Fax: (413) 545-0110 Office Email: sawsj@lrrc.umass.edu Information List E-mail: sawsj@sage.edu Web site: www.sage.edu/html/SAWSJ 2. ACTION: GRAD AND UNDERGRAD STRIKE LOOMS AT U OF CAL Graduate and undergraduate academic student employees throughout the University of California system are planning a strike for this Fall forced upon them by the university administrators failure to negotiate with their unions. This strike has been precipitated by the UC's refusal to bargain with academic student employees, despite the fact that the unions have majority membership on each of the campuses, as has been verified by the state's Public Employment Relations Board. In addition to refusing to uphold basic democratic principle, the university administration has refused to accept recent legal decisions in favor of the ASE unions at both UCLA and UC San Diego. Last Spring, after the UC exhausted its legal appeals, the union won an overwhelming victory in a state-sanctioned election covering readers, tutors, and associates (graduate students who teach their own courses). Yet incredibly, the UC threatened to ignore the results, and it appears that the administration at UCSD has now followed through on this threat by refusing to negotiate a contract for UCSD associates. While objectionable in and of itself, this suggests the very real possibility that the administration might refuse to accept a legal decision or election at UCLA (where the UC's appeal is still pending) that would extend bargaining rights for teaching assistants. We at the Bay Area Chapter of Scholars, Activists, and Writers for Social Justice (SAWSJ) find the UC's conduct reprehensible. As a matter of democratic principle, we believe that university administrators are compelled to bargain with the these employees. We would like to help the unions pressure the university into bargaining, and hopefully avert a strike. We are circulating a petition including the statement below. Please read the statement, and if you agree to have your name attached to it, please respond by email with your name and affiliation, to: "Ellen Starbird" And please also follow up by asking others to sign the statement below. (Use the SAWSJ address above to send in a contribution snail mail to help defray the costs of printing and advertising.) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - STATEMENT: "A majority of the University of California's academic student employees (ASEs) has chosen to be represented by the United Auto Workers on all eight of the UC's teaching campuses. Yet University of California administrators are wasting valuable public resources and ignoring democratic principle in attempting to deny their teaching assistants, tutors, and readers the fundamental right to bargain over wages, benefits, and working conditions. The unions have authorized a strike that will affect the entire University of California system this Fall. We support the right to organize, and stand with these union members in calling on the U.C. system to honor their rights. In these times where human rights (such as the right to join a union) are being systematically ignored not only by corporate America, but even by institutions supposedly committed to perpetuating democratic values, we must express our outrage. We join with the Bay Area chapter of Scholars, Activists, and Writers for Social Justice (SAWSJ) in condemning the University of California administration's refusal to bargain. We call upon the U.C. administration to stop wasting tax dollars for union busting! Avert the strike. Bargain with Academic Student Employee unions!" [SIGNED]-----------------------------------------------------