UC - AFT NEWS

• UC-AFT Officer Candidate statements
• UCB Extension English Language Program to close
• Lecturers Bargaining archives
• UC Administrators' Compensation Packages
• Spring, 2004 UC-AFT Perspective (1 MB pdf)
• Roddy and Klar meet with Dynes

This will be a very brief bargaining update because there is not a great deal to report. The two teams "met" in Oakland on February 25 and 26, 2003. Although both teams were present, the only face to face meeting was actually held between two small groups -- Chief Negotiator Rebecca Rhine and Mike Rotkin (UCSC) from UC-AFT and the University Administration's Chief Negotiator, Assistant Negotiator, and the Chair of the English Department from UCLA.
During the two days of meetings, UC-AFT delivered new versions of several critical articles. We gave UC the Appointments Article, which is now broken down into three parts: 7.1 -- pre-six appointments; 7.2 -- the process for getting a continuing appointment in the sixth year; and 7.3 -- post-six appointments. We also passed them our latest version of Article 18, Layoff and Article 33, Grievance. In each case, the article we gave them was based on their language and both teams are, at last, working off of the same language on each article. There will now be no room for confusion about where we are saying the same thing and where we are saying something substantively different.

We spent most of the two days presenting our articles to the small Administration team and explaining the modifications we were making to their last proposal. The UC-AFT team is making a serious attempt to move close to our bottom line and we have moved significantly on several issues in each of the above articles. The two sides are very close on Article 33, and significantly closer than we have been on Article 18, but we appear to remain quite far apart on the Appointments articles -- especially as it pertains to the first six years. We did not get very much feedback from their team as we presented our articles to them, but after they met with their team they returned the second day to reiterate their oft stated position that they do not believe there is much room left to move towards us on the pre-six article. Following further discussion and a renewed attempt to explain our position on pre-six lecturers and the strong feelings of our members on this matter, they did agree to revisit the possibility of addressing at least one or two of our concerns.

Two days before bargaining began, the University delivered yet another tree-killing "comprehensive proposal" which they later clarified was not intended to be a new ultimatum, but rather a summary of where the University stands on each article. Buried within that document is what appears to be a new proposal from the University on Article 31 (Discipline and Dismissal), the article that describes the process and rules under which a post-six lecturer might be removed for cause (i.e. "a significant decline in teaching quality"). It appears that the University has actually moved closer to the AFT's position on this issue, but there remain key differences in our approaches. Our team will now be drafting a counter proposal to maximize this apparent movement on the part of the Administration in the hopes of reaching agreement on this important article.

The small group plans to meet again on March 20, 2003. In addition to our counter proposal on Article 31 (Discipline and Dismissal), we intend to offer the Administration proposals on Article 9 (Professional Development), an article on which we appear to be close; Article 23 (Merit Reviews); and Article 25 (Workload).

While we are not optimistic about successfully concluding negotiations in the near future, we are continuing to make painfully slow progress on some of the less critical articles while narrowing and clarifying differences on the more significant ones. As always, our ability to leverage an agreement that addresses the significant and numerous areas we seek to improve is contingent upon the University's belief that they will pay a price for resisting our demands. No amount of talking -- no matter how articulate and reasonable -- ever forces an employer to do what it does not want to do. If you have questions about the bargaining process, please feel free to contact the bargaining team member from your campus or myself.

by Mike Rotkin, UCSC (831) 423-4209