Thursday, November 21, 1996
SAGE:
Picketing has little effect on administration’s stance on
recognition
By John Digrado
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Marching off the picket lines and through campus for the first
time in three days, about 100 striking members of the Students
Association of Graduate Employees (SAGE/UAW) assembled on the west
steps of Murphy Hall Wednesday to bring their message directly to
campus administrators.
Threatening to keep out of classrooms and laboratories for the
entire week should the university fail to recognize their
collective bargaining efforts, academic student employees at three
separate campuses throughout the UC system have walked off their
jobs, possibly disrupting students’ education dangerously close to
Finals Week.
Somewhat buffered from the chants outside, administrators inside
Murphy Hall said they would agree to recognize the union should an
appeal made to the Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) uphold an
earlier decision by board Judge James Tamm recommending the
university recognize the union.
"We would like to see the (appeal) through to the end," said
Executive Vice Chancellor Charles Kennel. "If the PERB judge sees
it fit, of course we will implement."
But in meantime, the absence of academic student employees at UC
Berkeley, UC San Diego and UCLA this week has left the
undergraduates in the lurch, some fear, leaving their classrooms
empty and their contracts with the university unfulfilled.
Strike organizers hope to disrupt the educational process as
little as possible, but understand that their absence may still
impact undergraduate education.
"The walk out may interrupt the educational process, but the
university not recognizing SAGE is going to hurt undergraduate
education in the long run," said York Chang, a member of the
organization’s executive board.
"The university’s stubbornness is really the problem," he
continued. "(SAGE) is trying to stop the downward slide of the
educational quality on this campus."
While the strike is widely supported among members of the staff
and faculty, SAGE organizers sent letters to professors describing
how to keep the strike’s impact on undergraduate education to a
minimum.
By rearranging syllabi, rescheduling midterms and review
sessions or not holding class at all, strike organizers urged
faculty to help students who respect the picket line.
"We don’t anticipate any problems with the faculty," said Mike
Miller, one of the strike’s lead organizers. "Most faculty members
support (the strike) as an academic freedom issue, and are not
going to take it out on students."
Indeed, most teaching assistants have either made other
arrangements to keep with their scheduled curriculum or have
cancelled classes altogether.
The strike poses formidable problems for classes where students
and teaching assistants meet on a daily basis. Students could
potentially miss five days’ worth of material if their instructor
respects the picket lines and cancels class.
"We’re rearranging the structure of class and meeting off
campus," said Rene Castillo, a teaching assistant with the
department of Spanish and Portuguese.
"I rearranged the reading list, gave students my home phone
number and e-mail address so that I’m available up until about
midnight if they have any questions," he said, noting that 20 of
his 22 students have been meeting at an off-campus location
throughout the week.
Instructors that have kept off campus, however, may face a
number of charges when they return to their posts next Monday,
including a self-reported dock in pay for the days missed while out
on the picket lines, Kennel said.
This type of response by the university is a source of ire
toward the administration from both Lt. Gov. Gray Davis and Student
Regent Jess Bravin, both of whom have lambasted the university for
its lack of ‘tact’ when dealing with labor relations.
In an earlier interview, Bravin suggested bringing the issue to
the regents’ table is the proper way to solve the dispute  a
view that is unpopular with the remaining regents and the
administration.
"The regents have the (ultimate) responsibility for everything
that goes on at the university," Kennel said, "but they leave
issues of management to the individual campuses. While I think that
the regents could deal with any and all issues, they choose not to
deal with these.
"It’s in the university’s best interest to make sure that the
graduate students" are treated fairly, he continued. "They’re our
product, our future and our students."
KRIS FALLON
Virginia Parks, an Urban Planning student, leads SAGE protesters
in front of Murphy Hall Wednesday afternoon.