After months of private campaigning, more than 50 student workers and union organizers attended the Associated Students UCLA board of directors meeting Friday to present their reasons for trying to unionize.
Students say they are attempting to join the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME Local 3299, in order to get better working conditions and pay, particularly since they believe they are not afforded the same benefits and representation as non-student workers who are organized.
But while ASUCLA said it will not take a stance on the effort until they study the issues more in-depth, Melanie Ho, a graduate student in English and the chairwoman for the board, said ASUCLA does provide for its student employees by offering them convenient on-campus jobs and leadership opportunities to help them prepare for professional careers.
AFSCME currently represents about 19,500 University of California workers and 5,000 at UCLA, including food workers, custodians and nurse assistants. The move to unionize could affect the 1,200 students ASUCLA employs in the services and enterprises area per year, which includes students working at the UCLA Store, campus coffeehouses, Bomb Shelter restaurants, Hilltop and the Cooperage.
Megan Markoff, a third-year political science student who used to work at the Cooperage and is now helping with the organizing campaign, said she believes unionizing will give student workers greater input in the workplace.
“We want to organize with AFSCME because currently there really is no voice for student workers,” she said.
Students say they are concerned because they believe they do the same work as career workers, or non-student ASUCLA employees, and yet are paid less and get fewer benefits.
In 2002, the non-student ASUCLA workers won a campaign to join a union and gained benefits including higher starting salaries than student employees, said Victoria Preciado, union organizer for AFSCME Local 3299 and former ASUCLA Treehouse employee.
She added that she believes the unionization of non-student employees has created a two-tier system with students doing the same jobs but receiving less.
Mirna E. Martinez, a career worker for ASUCLA, spoke through a translator at the meeting, supporting the students’ move to unionize.
“I want to tell you not to discriminate against students because they are students. I want to tell everyone they can count on our support.”
At the meeting, the students said they wanted the board to decide by April 6 whether they will support the campaign.
At the meeting, students said they have experienced problems with low wages, minimal benefits, high turnover rate, lack of training and poor job descriptions.
Ho said that before the board comes to any decision it must study all the issues separately.
“One thing we feel like we need to do is understand the issues as fully as possible, and give it the time and energy it deserves,” she said.
During a presentation at the board of directors meeting, students compared their benefits with those of unionized ASUCLA workers.
During the days they work, students receive up to a $2.50 credit for a meal, while union members receive a free meal. Unlike the union members, students are not provided health care or workers’ compensation, according to the presentation. In addition, student presenters said there is a $1.39 difference in starting wages.
Ho said starting wages vary depending on the position, and different job descriptions are taken into account when determining wage.
She said most food employees ““ about 60 percent of ASUCLA employees ““ start at $8.75 per hour, though some student workers said at the meeting they received a starting wage of $8.25 per hour.
Ho also said students received a 50-cent wage increase in 2005 and a 75-cent increase in January 2007. She added that the board has already planned for another pay increase to take effect between June 2007 and January 2008.
In addition, student employees at ASUCLA receive a 20 percent discount on some items, $50 for referring someone that is hired and various monetary awards from $5 to $100 which are given based on performance, according to the Student Employment Policies.
After the students presented to the board, third-year sociology student Maricruz Cesena told fellow students that regardless of the board’s ruling, they would continue to campaign.
If the students do organize, they would be the first UCLA student workers represented by a union, Preciado said.
Daniela Valle, a second-year psychology student and student senior supervisor at the Cooperage, said unionizing will help student employees communicate more effectively with upper management about problems such as over or understaffing.
Union members are able to set up meetings with management through the union, while students do not have these same rights, Preciado said.
Ho said the board will review the issues the students brought up and could eventually decide to change its policies to address the concerns student workers have addressed.
“Our job is to set policy that is consistent with our mission statement and consistent with the needs of students,” Ho said. “The great thing about the board of directors is that we have a student majority, and we have the power to fix policies.”
Ho said these issues will be studied by the Finance and Personnel committees, and then the entire board will be involved in discussing each issue individually. She also said the board has asked management for some policy analysis.