6,000-Plus UC Lecturers May Strike In Labor Dispute

LOS ANGELES, CA - Thousands of lecturers and faculty members of the nine University of California campuses planned to walk off the job Wednesday as a labor dispute reaches a head after simmering for more than two years, the union representing the university's workers announced Tuesday.

The two-day strike would leave classrooms empty across the state this week as some 6,000 lecturers join in the work stoppage.

The University Council-American Federation of Teachers union accused UC President Michael Drake's administration of failing to bargain a contract to address a buffet of issues, including a paid family leave policy.

For their part, UC officials called the threatened strike "grossly unfair."

"The University of California is disappointed with UC-AFT’s decision to pursue a two-day strike — withholding instruction is grossly unfair to our students and a strike does not move us closer to a contract," University of California officials told Patch in an emailed statement.

The union filed seven unfair labor practice charges with the California Public Employees Relations Board over the last 20 months, it said. The charges remain unresolved.

The UC-AFT represents librarians as well as lecturers and adjunct professors hired on a yearly or quarterly basis.

The union alleged that the UC's current family leave policy has an eligibility threshold that excludes thousands of lecturers, the majority of whom teach part time and are more likely to be women and caregivers than their tenure-track colleagues. The policy provided eight weeks of paid leave for some employees to care for a seriously ill family member or to bond with a new child, the union said.

The union claimed that UC management initially said the new program was subject to collective bargaining when COVID-19 began to upend life in California. Later, UC officials insisted that the union switch back to negotiating a long-term contract in what the union called a "bait and switch."

The union demanded that the following issues be resolved in a new contract.

• Provide additional compensation for online instruction and essential teaching supplies.
• Agree to settlement terms after improperly withholding employer retirement contributions.
• Take into account effects of layoffs of lecturers at UC Davis.
• Deal with the effects of COVID-19 conditions on K-12 teachers represented by the union.

The UC said it presented union leaders with a proposal last month that included what it called "substantial pay increases, an enhanced appointment system with more stability for lecturers," evaluations for lecturers with fewer than 12 semesters of teaching credit in a department at the end of each appointment term, greater transparency in job expectations and mechanisms for addressing workload concerns.

University officials have since enhanced that offer, offering, among other things, four weeks of leave at 100 percent of pay for all bargaining unit members, including for those members who may not be eligible for the family medical leave policy, Ryan King, associate director of media relations for the UC President's Office told Patch in an email.

"We continue to meet with union leaders in good faith ... with the aim of achieving a fair five-year agreement. This latest round of bargaining follows two and a half years of negotiations and a mediation period," UC officials wrote Tuesday.

Negotiations were ongoing throughout Tuesday.

"We continue to meet with union leaders in good faith ... with the aim of achieving a fair five-year agreement. This latest round of bargaining follows two and a half years of negotiations and a mediation period," according to the UC.

The union invited community members and students to join a picket line and asked its members who teach remotely to turn off access to their website Wednesday and Thursday.

"I hope that all of the [UC president's] representatives here today realize that we are skilled, experienced, talented and passionate educators," said University of California, Los Angeles lecturer Caroline Luce in a statement. "We have ability, we need stability. Please, please bring us a legit proposal that we can actually take seriously, and that will provide us job security now."

The UC-AFT is affiliated with the California Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers.

City News Service contributed to this report.