Congressman charges UC with anti-unionism
University denies alleged attempt to sway union votes
By Alisa Ulferts
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The battle between business and labor rages on at UCLA, and the
newest recruit is a U.S. congressman who is urging the university
to stop its alleged anti-union campaign.
Rep. Ronald Dellums of Oakland  in a letter to UC
President Jack Peltason  asked Peltason to intervene in order
to stop the anti-campaign literature that unions say UCLA and other
UC campuses circulated prior to union elections.
"I am deeply concerned by what appears to be a systematic effort
by management at the various campuses to persuade technical voters
to oppose the union," Dellums wrote in the Oct. 21 letter.
"I do not understand why highly compensated labor relations
professionals would tolerate, let alone condone, a campaign based
on distortion and misinformation … It is all the more
discouraging because of the high level of federal funding the
university receives," Dellums continued.
Although the office of the president had not yet received the
letter by press time, a spokeswoman for the University of
California denied any biases against labor unions.
"It is not the University of California’s official position to
run an anti-union campaign," Gayle Cieszkiewicz said. "It is our
position to present employees with our view. We have a
long-standing (UC) position that exclusive representation by a
union is neither desirable or necessary."
Cieskiewicz added that exclusive representation could stifle
employees who had grievances because they could only go to the
union and not a supervisor.
Last week, the Union of Professional and Technical Employees
(UPTE) demanded a meeting with UCLA Executive Vice Chancellor
Andrea Rich to address allegations that the university illegally
attempted to sway the results of union elections.
UCLA administrators denied the charges.
"The University is committed to providing Technical Unit staff
with complete, accurate information upon which to base their
decision when they cast their vote," wrote Stanley Mc Knight,
assistant vice chancellor for campus human resources, in a letter
to the union.
But Dellums condemned the circulation of what he called
misleading information and wrote: "UCLA’s claim that it can find no
record of (Communication Workers of America union) representation
elections at Indiana University and State University of New York
suggests either incompetence or an intention to deceive."
Union leaders said they agree.
Labor representatives allege that the university has used tax
dollars to mail more anti-union fliers to the homes of technical
employees last week.
"UCLA continues to distribute distorted and inaccurate
information to techs in a desperate, last-ditch effort to dissuade
employees from voting for union representation," UPTE President
Libby Sayre said.
Sayre said the last two mailings sent Monday and Tuesday
distorted a list of unfair practice charges filed against the union
and imply that low membership numbers would be a threat to
technical workers.
"Unfortunately, these types of distortions, delivered by
high-level management on UC letterhead day after day, do have a
coercive effect,’ Sayre said in a statement. "It is clearly not in
keeping with University accepted standards of academic freedom
based on verified facts and identifiable sources."
The university has defended its pre-election mailings to
potential voters on the grounds that it is the university’s
responsibility to inform technical employees about all aspects of
union representation.
"There are over 3,800 employees in 200 job titles in the entire
university," Mc Knight said in an interview last week. "The issue
is, can one contract represent all those (varied) positions?"
"How can 270 million Americans be represented by one
constitution?" countered Cliff Fried, vice president of UPTE. "It’s
not a real question  it’s just a measure to confuse
people."
Confused or not, technical employees have received their ballots
from the Public Employee Relations Board, the agency that
administers the collective bargaining law, and must decide whether
they want UPTE to be their exclusive representation in contract
negotiation.
The agency must receive the ballots by 3 p.m. Nov. 14, and
results will be announced Nov. 15. If the election is successful,
unions will have the right to negotiate contracts for
employees.
Currently employees are not involved in the negotiating
process.
The election has caught the attention of state as well as
federal politicians. In a letter earlier this month to the UC
Office of the President, State Senate President pro tempore Bill
Lockyer, D Â Hayward, admonished the university for
distributing "misleading" information.
"If the university cannot take a neutral position in this
election … I urge that you at least consider canceling any
further mailings," Lockyer wrote.