Winter campus closure forces employees to take unpaid furloughs

Some UCLA staff are voicing concerns that they are forced to take four days of unpaid furloughs during winter break, when campus closes for less than two weeks to save on utility costs.

As usual, most of the university will close for 12 days between Dec. 24 and Jan. 4. Eight of those days are paid holidays or weekends, while four days are unpaid furlough days for most of university’s workers. The UCLA Health System and facilities deemed essential by the university will remain open, according to a letter the university sent to its employees in late September.

In an email, UCLA spokesman Tod Tamberg said the practice of winter closure has been going on since 2003.

“The closure helps UCLA to reduce energy costs at a time when the majority of buildings on campus are unoccupied,” the university said in a separate statement.

The university estimates the savings to be in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Michael Fehr, the vice president of the University Professional and Technical Employees union and a computer resource specialist at the Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, said many research support professionals in the union, however, still work during the winter break to continue their research.

“UCLA never, ever really shuts down,” Fehr said.

If they choose to, workers may take vacation days for those four unpaid work days if they want to get paid during that time. According to the letter UCLA sent to its employees, they may take vacation days ahead of them actually acquiring those days.

Tanya Akel, a Southern California regional director for Teamsters Local 2010 and Occupational Safety and Health Administration project director at the UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program, said workers often save those vacation days for the time they are sick or going through an emergency, adding onto other types of leaves such as maternity leave.

“(The winter closure) disproportionately affects those who take care of their family,” Akel said. “We earned our vacation time, and it should be our choice.”

Employees usually get about 15 to 24 days in vacation time a year, according to labor contracts signed between unions and the University of California.

The current contracts between unions and the University include language that stipulates the UC has the authority to close down its operations for specific periods.

Fehr said UPTE has not planned any kind of action against the closure. Akel said Teamsters Local 2010 is collecting responses from its members about the closure and will make a proposal to the university soon.

Akel said what she and other workers want is a choice of going to work or not, so workers who need the money can choose to work.

“We can do work without lights on or work from home,” she said.

However, Ella Gogel, vice president of events for the UCLA Staff Assembly, said she does not mind not having to work during the winter break and appreciates spending time with her family and friends.

Gogel said the closure is not troubling to her as she uses vacation days, and she is aware of the closure in advance. Furthermore, the university offers workers like her a couple of days during the closure to volunteer at places such as food banks, which she has taken advantage of.

In late November, UCLA will have more details on what services will be available during the winter break, the university said in its letter.