Editorial: A strike by UC academic workers would tarnish the prestigious university system – as well as the government’s economic reforms of university teaching and research
THE UC-Davis labor dispute is the most prominent issue confronting California’s high-priced public universities. It has come from outside, and it is not the first strike in which California colleges have joined forces with the university.
Many UCs, especially at California’s public universities such as UCLA, and private colleges such as Rice University in Houston, have struck over the past few years in support of higher wages, a more generous pension system, expanded university facilities and expanded faculty and staff.
In particular, there is no shortage of labor organizing in California’s universities and colleges, and a high demand for better wages and benefits, especially for teaching and research assistants, especially at the UCs.
The UC labor dispute is also unique because UC officials are not interested in the students’ money. The university pays all of the salaries and expenses associated with its campuses.
This is not the first strike for the university’s workers at Davis, but it may be the most prominent and far-reaching.
Labor organizing has been a mainstay of California labor organizing over the past 15 years. In California, public sector unions are organized through their colleges. Most colleges have the ability to build bargaining units for their workers by electing workers to bargaining committees.
The UC can bargain for the workers only if the college agrees (through a vote by its members) to have a committee of workers negotiate with the university faculty and staff. This allows workers and the university to avoid strikes by the university’s academic staff.
However, the faculty and staff at the university have not ratified the agreement with the UCs.
Meanwhile, the UC has decided to build a new campus on the former site of UC-Berkeley and has said that it is too expensive. It would cost $1.3 billion.
The university’s refusal to negotiate