Thursday, November 21, 1996
SAGE/UAW:
Graduate employees’ conditions aren’t as bad as believed; a pay
cut is not likely to happenBy Gregg Gold
I have paid union dues most of my working life (Musicians Union
Local 47) and never crossed a picket line until the last strike
here at UCLA. This year, I will do it again, and I will do it with
a clear conscience. My reasons are listed below, with SAGE/UAW
arguments paraphrased in quotes.
1. "SAGE/UAW wants to make things better for graduate students,
their motives are purely altruistic  it’s about Democracy,
don’t you know?" Are we to believe that the true reason UAW has
spent millions on legal teams and organizers is because they are
concerned that "The Regents might cut TAs’ pay"? Note this is an
often repeated 10-year-old claim about a mere possibility. Well,
many things are possible in this universe, however, history shows
that the administration has bent over backward in its support of
TAs. As the Daily Bruin has documented, TAs have maintained and
even increased salary and benefits in the face of Wilson’s drastic
reductions in university funding.
2. "But SAGE/UAW really does care about us poor oppressed
graduate students." Fine, then why organize only at schools that
already have a better pay and benefit package for TAs and RAs than
virtually every other school in the country? Why, until last year,
have they NEVER gone to Sacramento (as many student organizations
have year after year) to lobby the regents and legislators for
tuition and fee relief?
According to the UAW web page, union dues would be around $218
per grad employee per year. That works out to approximately
$700,000 a year, per university in perpetuity. Not an insignificant
sum, and I for one want to know where my money would go after
SAGE/UAW takes over.
3. "All SAGE/UAW members are supporters." This is patently
false. Many members I know are not supporters. Why are they
members? Well, as everyone knows the membership drive always occurs
at the beginning of each year, when new students are at their most
uninformed and vulnerable state. Interestingly, most of the
SAGE/UAW members I know have joined during their first few months
on campus, before they were familiar with the issues, or have had
any experience with being a TA. Many after joining then lose
interest (apathy perhaps), some become supporters (it is a well
established psychological principle that attitudes follow from
behavior), but either way the union has what it wants, members on
its book to use in its legal case.
4. "SAGE/UAW is a student association of graduate employees." As
SAGE/UAW members well know, the organization is an employee union
and not what its name implies. True, graduate students are members,
but so are undergraduates and faculty. In fact, it seems that
anyone remotely connected with the university is welcome to join.
However, you are not welcome at meetings unless you first join the
union. The rule is "join or leave" and it is quite harshly enforced
as was documented in the court case. Hardly the behavior of a
graduate student organization, but then SAGE/UAW is not a graduate
student association any more than Proposition 209 was a civil
rights initiative.
In closing, let me say that I have supported civil rights and
workers’ rights my entire life. I have marched, spoken, signed
petitions, and donated time, talent and money in the struggle for
social justice. I think I know the difference between the struggle
for social justice and social fantasy. What has become clear to me
is that SAGE /UAW is not about social justice. That’s why I will
cross the picket line.
INGA DOROSZ
Various groups from campus spoke on behalf of the striking
TAs.