UCI staff members to join in day strike

Michael Miller

UC Irvine service workers plan to participate in a statewide strike

on April 14, pending the result of negotiations between the workers’

union and the University of California.

On March 17, 92% of service workers in the UC system -- some 7,300

employees, who include custodians, cooks, housekeepers and other

manual workers -- voted to stage a one-day strike if the university

fails to meet their demands for guaranteed pay raises, career

advancement opportunities and more. If the union and university do

not reach an agreement over the next 10 days, service workers will

picket at UC campuses statewide.

“This strike is connected to a series of unfair labor practices,

such as the UC’s refusal to bargain with us, and the purpose of a

one-day strike is to send a message,” said Paul Worthman, statewide

head bargainer for the union. “It’s certainly not uncommon among

teachers and other public sector employees to do a one-day labor

strike. It’s part of a process and a plan.

“The intent is not to shut down the total university; the intent

is to galvanize the membership and send a message to the university.

And it will make a difference.”

On Monday, a delegation of UC Irvine service workers, union

members and student activists delivered a signed proclamation of the

strike date to Chancellor Ralph Cicerone’s office on campus. On April

14, according to union organizer Roxana Guevara, workers plan to

begin picketing by the flag poles on Ring Road and then walk to

Campus Drive. Other plans for the strike, which may include

obstructing traffic and other acts of civil disobedience, are still

to be determined.

“We’re planning something,” Guevara said.

After the March 17 vote, the union and university entered a

fact-finding process under a state-appointed arbitrator, Carol

Vendrillo, with Worthman representing the union and Freya Foley the

university. On March 31, Vendrillo issued her report to both sides.

With the fact-finding process now over, the sides will undergo a

10-day renegotiation period to attempt to reach a settlement on the

service workers’ contract. If a settlement is not reached, the strike

will proceed as planned.

The central issue in the strike is the service workers’ salaries,

which have not increased in the last several years due to lack of

state funds.

“Since I’ve been here, I’ve never gotten any raise,” said Ramon

Ontiveros, a custodian who has worked in the UC system for three

years. “I’ve been part of a negotiation committee for 14 months.

We’ve traveled to LA and Riverside. I tell [the UC officials] to come

to my house and tell me how to spend all the money with $22,000 a

year.

“We want a better cost of living, respect and dignity and a chance

to advance. We’re fighting for a better contract.”

Noel Van Nyhuis, a spokesman for the UC system, said the

university hopes to improve the lives of service workers, but has had

few means of doing it in recent years due to a tight budget. Van

Nyhuis pointed to an education compact signed last May between Gov.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and the UC and Cal State systems that promises

to increase state funding 10% by 2008.

“Due to lack of state funding, the last two years, we haven’t

received state money for salary increases, and as a result, many of

our salaries have started to fall behind market,” Van Nyhuis said.

“That’s something the UC is very sensitive to. Fortunately, our

compact with the governor will allow for salary increases starting

next year, and hopefully we’ll be able to start offering systemwide

raises that are long overdue.”

Members of the union, however, expressed skepticism about the

compact.

“Compact is a strong word, but it is in fact an expectation,”

Worthman said. “It is not a certainty. The issue here is that the

compact does not guarantee the raise. What it means is that the raise

of the service workers would be conditional on the governor and

legislature providing that money each year for raises, and there is

no certainty with that.”

* MICHAEL MILLER covers education and may be reached at (714)

966-4617 or by e-mail at [email protected].