Chants of “No peace, no contract” could be heard echoing throughout De Neve Plaza and all over the Hill on Thursday as members of the California Teachers Association joined UC workers and others from their labor union to picket in support of higher wages and better working conditions for UC workers.
Approximately 600 of the 1,000-plus members of the association, who stayed in De Neve last week for an annual conference, used their lunch break to march in solidarity with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, the last of several gestures of support made by the teacher’s union between Sunday and Thursday.
“The UC is still failing AFSCME workers,” CTA spokesman Mike Myslinski said. “UC has been stalling negotiation planning. We will stay out here with the message: Things are not right at UCLA. Something is wrong with the system.”
AFSCME 3299, representing some 20,000 workers statewide, has been especially vocal in recent months in its insistence that the UC reevaluate the compensation of its workers.
The union has successfully encouraged speakers and organizations to cancel or scale back their events on campus. Such was the case in former President Bill Clinton’s decision to not speak at the 2008 commencement ceremony.
On Sunday, the opening night of the CTA conference, a reception that had been planned in De Neve was canceled in support of the workers’ union.
“We had a reception planned for Sunday evening for all the participants in our conference,” said David Sanchez, president of CTA. “We had invited the state legislature to stop by to be part of the reception, and knowing how our legislators and unions are, we chose not to put them in a position to have to cross a picket line.”
Sanchez explained that it was not AFSCME that approached the teachers’ union in this case, but rather the plans to cancel the event came as a result of CTA’s concern for the UC workers’ situation.
CTA also presented a check in the amount of $10,000 to the workers’ union as a contribution to the union’s strike fund. The money will help provide compensation to workers who chose to strike, helping to offset the financial burden of lost hours at work. Sanchez said that when he addressed the teachers’ union at a meeting Monday morning, a hat was passed around in the audience collecting a total of $3,000 in additional funding for AFSCME.
As concern for workers’ wages develops a greater presence in the public conscience, more UC workers have come forward, speaking of poverty-level living conditions and wages that fall far short of allowing workers to provide for their families.
“In reality, the wages are not enough for myself and my family,” said Jose de Jesus Lopez Ruelas, a UC worker of 38 years. “I do odd jobs to support my family. When I don’t get odd jobs on the side, I pick up recycling cans and plastic bottles for money.”
Ruelas said he currently earns $12.54 per hour and when he began working for UCLA in 1970 he earned $1.83 per hour.
AFSCME Local 3299 president and organizer of the event Lakesha Harrison, whose submission titled “UC can do more to end poverty” was published by The Bruin on July 21, 2008, said that 96 percent of UC service workers qualify for some form of public assistance.
While no campus or UC administrators could be reached to comment, UCLA spokesman Phil Hampton said that the UC believes in fair and equitable wages for all of its employees and that it values all of their contributions.
“They are part of what makes UCLA such a great place, and we are hopeful that a resolution can be reached quickly,” he said.
UC negotiations on wages take place systemwide; as of press time, spokespersons at the UC Office of the President could not be reached.
Sanchez said the teachers’ union will continue to support the UC workers.
“Whatever AFSCME needs we will be here for them,” he said. “Our slogan is “˜an injury to one is an injury to all,'” he added, pledging CTA’s support of the peer union throughout the ongoing negotiations.
With reports by Sarah Jo and Maya Sugarman, Bruin senior staff