Wednesday, May 27, 1998
SAGE members hope big victory
at UCSD transfers to Bruin territory
ISSUES: Officials don’t believe UCLA’s case impacted since same
employees not at issue
By Ann Hawkey
Daily Bruin Contributor
It has been nearly a month since academic student employees at
UC San Diego won a major victory in their struggle to unionize, yet
the Student Association of Graduate Student Employees/UAW (SAGE)
continues to struggle for recognition here at UCLA, even going so
far as to threaten another strike in fall quarter.
An April 28 court decision rejected UC San Diego’s claims that
academic student employees are not employees. These employees will
now vote to determine whether the sister union of SAGE will be
certified as the collective bargaining unit at the university.
Members of SAGE were pleased with the ruling, feeling that the
success at UC San Diego could foreshadow a future success in the
case pending at UCLA.
"It’s a very recent precedent, and UCLA has a case pending in
front of the board that covers the same issues," said Connie Razza,
SAGE activist. "It looks good for the L.A. case."
Despite the confidence of SAGE activists, the UC San Diego
decision will not cause the UCLA administration to change its
stance on the issue.
"The operative assumption is that this does not necessarily
impact UCLA’s case," said Jim Turner, assistant vice chancellor for
graduate programs.
The Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) ruling in San Diego
dealt a blow to that university’s view that academic student
employees do not have the right to unionize. The decision left UC
San Diego with the option to either voluntarily recognize the
Association of Student Employees/UAW, or to abide by the results of
a PERB-sponsored election.
UCSD’s appeal of this decision was rejected Thursday, and PERB
will continue with a election on the campus.
UCLA administrators feel this decision may not apply here
because the UC San Diego case does not cover exactly the same
student employees as the UCLA case. The decision validated UCSD
academic student employees’ claims that teaching associates,
readers and tutors are employees eligible for union representation.
The UCLA case would include teaching assistants as well.
The difference has not deterred the confidence of SAGE,
however.
"(The administration) should take this PERB ruling and run with
it in the opposite direction from which they’re running now," said
Razza. "The university could take this decision as the precedent
that we see it is, and recognize us."
UCLA administrators in the past have refused to recognize SAGE
as the official bargaining unit for academic student employees.
They have also rejected SAGE’s offers to hold a PERB-sponsored
election, claiming that graduate students were not employees, but
that the work was part of their education.
"They are primarily students, and not primarily employees," said
Turner.
SAGE has remained active, though, and is now in the process of a
UC-wide strike vote, which could lead to a strike that could
seriously cripple campuses in the fall quarter. The results of that
strike vote will be announced in the coming weeks.
The victory in San Diego follows the recent opinion poll on the
GSA ballot asking graduate students at UCLA for their opinions on
SAGE.
The poll, which SAGE opposed from the start, showed that a large
majority of voters supported SAGE as the union for academic student
employees at UCLA.
SAGE activists opposed the survey because they saw it as an
attempt by GSA and the administration to hinder SAGE’s efforts
toward gaining certification.
"Despite the fact that the poll was set up in such a way as to
embarrass SAGE, we won overwhelmingly," said SAGE activist Joe
Nevins.
Union activists are also happy with the election of all three
SAGE-endorsed candidates to the executive cabinet of GSA.
In lieu of these successes in the election, SAGE activists still
do not agree with the method in which GSA conducted the
election.