Thursday, 5/22/97 Strike opens with general support Members work
to coordinate campuses, unions, undergraduates
By A.J. Harwin Daily Bruin Contributor Teaching assistants,
readers and tutors were up early Wednesday morning to take to the
picket lines around UCLA and show their support for the Student
Association of Graduate Employees (SAGE/UAW). The sequel to last
November’s three-campus week-long campaign, the strike has now
rolled its way to four campuses, with preceding strikes that
occurred at UC Berkeley, UC San Diego and UC Santa Cruz a few weeks
ago. SAGE members have worked to increase the number of campuses
participating in the strikes in addition to rallying labor and
community support in an effort to make this strike more successful
than the one earlier this academic year. "Many more unions have
said that they are going to come out and help picket," said Mike
Miller, co-organizer of SAGE. "There’s much more undergraduate
support. Over 5,000 undergraduates have signed petitions that we’ve
been circulating since the first strike. "In addition, more faculty
have called the office looking for places to reschedule classes off
campus," Miller added, noting that more and more TAs, readers and
tutors are striking this time around. According to a Public
Employees Relations Board (PERB) count in the Spring of 1994, SAGE
has a solid majority of academic student employees supporting the
group as its union representative with 50 to 60 percent of campus
TAs, tutors and readers as members. SAGE officials felt that it was
necessary to have another strike due to the UCLA administration’s
lack of recognition of a court decision ruling for the collective
bargaining rights of TAs, tutors and readers. While PERB Judge
James W. Tamm ruled that TAs, readers and tutors have collective
bargaining rights, the university has stood its ground against
recognizing SAGE. The university’s appeal of that ruling is still
in the courts. "At present time, we wish to see what the Public
Relations Employee Board says on this matter," said Robin Fisher,
associate dean of the UCLA graduate division and administrative
representative for SAGE. "We want to see if the board wants to stay
with the (Tamm’s) opinion." An advertisement appearing in The Bruin
this week paid for by the Chancellor’s Office states that Tamm’s
decision is being reviewed by PERB to "access the legality and
propriety of (Tamm’s) recommendations," and is in no way final. The
ad claims that the decision is inconsistent with an earlier ruling
of the state appellate court, which found "graduate student
instructors and researchers at Berkeley ineligible for collective
bargaining." In addition, the advertisement points out that TAs at
UCLA earn more than graduate students at many universities such as
Stanford, Yale and Princeton, and receive better health benefits
and financial aid than their colleagues at other schools. As for
Chancellor-designate Albert Carnesale, Miller is not yet sure what
effect the new leadership will have on union recognition. Despite
SAGE’s attempts to contact him, Carnesale has not given any
inclination to whether or not he will side with the group’s
members. "We wrote to him, we sent someone who tried to meet with
him, and we also tried to meet with him on campus (last week),"
Miller said. "He said he’s not commenting on current UCLA policy
until he becomes chancellor." However, those on the picket lines
hope that Carnesale will bring an open mind about recognizing SAGE
to UCLA. "I’m hoping the new chancellor will have a more reasonable
attitude toward SAGE," said James Benn, a graduate student in East
Asian language and cultures. "All we want to do is sit down and
negotiate." The Graduate Student Association (GSA) has decided not
to hold a forum meeting on whether to officially support the
current SAGE strike, after narrowly passing a resolution in support
of the strike last fall. "In deference to GSA, I held extra office
hours and moved my discussion sections to honor the strike," said
Lance Menthe, a delegate for the Math and Physical Sciences
Graduate Council, and next year’s GSA internal vice-president. "I
will not honor the strike this time. I have a midterm to proctor on
Wednesday." Menthe is one of many TAs who don’t feel that the
strike is calling attention to their problem, and that legal
recognition is not worth striking over. "Although I am angry with
the university for its treatment of SAGE, the truth is that a
strike did not bring about the PERB ruling, nor will a strike
compel the university to obey that ruling," Menthe said. "Only
community support for TAs and RAs – which a strike destroys – can
convince the university to listen to their needs," he added. JAMIE
SCANLON-JACOBS Graduate student Roman Martinez pickets in Westwood
on Wednesday as part of the three-day SAGE strike. SAGE is striking
in conjunction with three other UC campuses. Previous Daily Bruin
stories: SAGE strikes for rights against corporate UCs, May 19,
1997 Related links: UAW home page