Thursday, 5/1/97 Community Briefs
TAs on three-day strike at UC Berkeley Graduate student
instructors at the University of California, Berkeley began a
three-day strike Wednesday which will end on Friday, in continuing
effort to gain collective bargaining rights from the university.
Student instructors voted to strike if the university did not
recognize the Association of Graduate Student Employees, UAW Local
2165 (AGSE/UAW) as their collective bargaining agent. Over 1,000 of
1,700 Teaching Assistants (TAs) at UC Berkeley joined the AGSE/UAW
during a recent membership drive. Despite legal rulings in the
graduate student employees’ favor, the UC administration is still
denying them the right to be represented by a union. "The rights
and benefits that are being denied us as employees are
fundamental," said AGSE/UAW member and graduate student Lily
Khadjavi. "The continued refusal by the university to even discuss
the situation with us in a serious fashion reveals their position
as completely unreasonable and inappropriate." Last September, a
judge from the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) ruled that
TAs, readers and tutors at UCLA have collective bargaining rights,
but the UC refused to accept the ruling. Spurred by the UC’s
refusal to acknowledge the graduate students’ union at UCLA,
graduate student activity on other campuses increased dramatically.
Thousands of graduate students are expected to strike this month
throughout the UC system. Anderson School awards scholarships
Executives from various non-profit organizations were awarded
scholarships by the Anderson School at UCLA in order to attend a
week-long session in the business school’s Executive Education
Program. The American Red Cross, Los Angeles Free Clinic, United
Way, American Heart Association and Salvation Army benefitted from
the scholarships. Executives from the organizations will attend
classes in the Advanced Program in Human Resources Management.
"These scholarships will enable these five executives to learn the
best practices and latest thinking in human resources management,"
said William Ouchi, vice dean of the Executive Education Program.
The program is one of many in which the Anderson School is involved
for the continuing education of the non-profit sector. The business
school’s Not-for-Profit Management Program was recently ranked
fourth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. "I believe
that the same skills that create success in business can also
benefit other areas of the community. That is why the Anderson
School is committed to providing management education to the
non-profit sector," said William Pierskalla, dean of the Anderson
School. Recipients of the scholarships to the Human Resources
Management event expressed a strong interest in enhancing their
management skills. "By getting an academic perspective on theories
that I may already be applying in my organization without knowing,
I can plan my tactics and strategize better," said Michelle Cabray
of the Los Angeles Free Clinic. CYA wards contribute time to public
service Young offenders in the California Youth Authority’s (CYA)
institutions and camps statewide contributed over 682,000 hours of
public service during 1996, according to CYA Director Francisco J.
Alarcon. Public service is required as a means of holding young
offenders more accountable for their behavior and providing a form
of restitution that benefits communities and the state, said
Alarcon. Compiled from Daily Bruin staff reports.