A mass of green shirts flooded into De Neve Plaza Thursday
afternoon as over 200 workers and students assembled together to
demand higher wages and respect from administrative officials in
the face of California’s current budget cuts, with the
workers’ contracts currently up for renewal.
Rallies took place at all nine University of California campuses
Thursday, representing the 17,000 workers of the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The UC has
been in mediation with the union for the past three months, and the
university says it is optimistic that a resolution is near.
At UCLA, workers and supporters met at the Bruin Bear and at the
UC Medical Center and marched to
De Neve Plaza to join together.
Protesters outside the medical center were environmental
services food services and medical center security workers.
“We need more education on the job site. We feel we are
stuck in the same place,” said Oscar Rivera, who has worked
with the environmental services department for seven years.
Many workers said they had not received raises in over two
years.
“They keep pushing negotiations back because it’s
the end of the fiscal year,” Rivera said. He also said the
management will not negotiate because it wants bonuses.
But the UC says budget cuts have forced the UC system to make
changes accordingly within each university.
According to a UC press release, “Chancellors and other
campus administrators as a group have received the same general
salary increases as system-wide staff.” The reported
increases were 2 percent in 2001-02, 1.5 percent in 2002-03 and 0
percent in 2003-04.
“Salaries for UC chancellors continue to seriously lag the
market. … We are having to increase salaries for new chancellors
because, unless we do so, there’s no way we can attract the
caliber of person we need to maintain institutional quality and
competitiveness,” the press release stated, “We do not
control … the demands of the market.”
The decrease in quality of services provided has been a key
issue that has resulted with budget cuts made in the past year and
has caused concern among many workers.
Willard Whitfield, a security officer at the Medical Center,
said the quality of workers is going down, because the wage is so
low. People are leaving the medical center, and it cannot attract
quality employees, Whitfield said, adding he has had to get a
second job to support himself.
But the university says it had limited options considering the
current budget climate.
“The recent budget cuts have severely challenged our
ability to hold the line on quality,” the press release also
said. “We’ve had to cut back in some areas “¦ but
overall we feel we’ve done an excellent job under these very
difficult circumstances.”
The protesters also complained about staff shortages. One worker
is made responsible for what it would take two to three workers to
complete, said Victoria Preciado, a fourth-year English and Spanish
student.
“We must support workers because they are part of the same
struggle as students,” Preciado said.
Lakesha Harrison, president of local AFSCME chapter 3299, led
the rally.
“Every time we’re here we get stronger. This is just
the beginning. We still have a long fight ahead of us,”
Harrison said, adding that she wanted support from clergy,
politicians and university officials.
“It is always good to come out and support workers. There
is a long way to go, but they have already accomplished a
lot,” said the Rev. Pat Hensy of the University Catholic
Center. He began the rally by leading a prayer.
Three workers from different departments spoke on the problems
they said they face.
One of these workers, Marisol Portillo, has worked at the
on-campus eatery Puzzles for three years. She said she wanted the
opportunity for advancement and to reach her goal of becoming a
secretary or office assistant.
“UCLA is an educational institution, yet I am not given
the chance to be what I want to be,” Portillo said. “I
don’t want to die making burritos.”
State Sen. Richard Alacrón, D-San Fernando Valley, came to
the rally directly from Sacramento to show his support for the UCLA
workers.
“The strength of the United States and California is the
middle class,” Alacrón said. “We must end poverty
by having the middle class grow.”