SAGE to vote for support of two-day strike
Employees continue fight for recognition from administration
By Betty Song
As the next step in the ongoing battle for union recognition
from the UCLA administration, the Student Association of Graduate
Employees (SAGE) will vote tonight on whether to give authorization
for a two-day labor strike early spring quarter.
A two-thirds majority vote from 300 members will allow the
graduate student employee union to elect a committee with the power
to call a strike within the next month if continued negotiations to
gain recognition fail. Unlike the recent SAGE teach-out, when
members protested by holding office hours and classes outside, a
walkout would entail a temporary work stoppage.
Currently, the administration has no definite plan yet
concerning the potential strike.
"(The administration) will take the steps necessary to promote
academic integrity and make sure that the students get the
education they signed up for," said Kathleen Komar, associate dean
of UCLA’s graduate division. An administrative decision can only be
made after knowing the meeting’s outcome, she added.
"We can’t give a unilateral plan (until we know) what in fact is
happening, and see if it would affect classes, and how many people
are involved. But if anyone at UCLA is not fulfilling their job
obligations, they can be replaced," Komar said.
The decision for tonight’s authorization vote emerged from a
long history of actions, beginning with the group’s formation in
January of 1993, members said.
"We’ve been very patient with the administration," said Joseph
Nevins, the union’s media contact. "We’ve tried all sorts of
different means (to gain recognition), but we’re not getting
anywhere with them. (The administration) has forced us into
this."
The graduate union has been actively seeking recognition with
the administration since the state Public Employment Relations
Board certified SAGE as representing a majority of UCLA’s student
employees last May, Nevins said. The action gave the administration
a voluntary right to recognize the union as a collective bargaining
representative.
Since the administration’s initial refusal to extend recognition
after the state decision, the union has held numerous
demonstrations in front of Murphy Hall, in addition to sending
letters to Chancellor Charles Young asking for recognition. The
group also spent two days distributing union literature throughout
campus in November.
However, the deciding factor for a walkout resulted from the
administration’s unresponsiveness to the teach-out last month, said
John Medearis, a member of the group’s organizing committee.
In a general meeting last quarter, the union agreed to hold a
strike authorization vote if the February protest failed to sway
the administration’s position.
"We decided that it was time for members of SAGE to face up to a
very important question," Medearis said. "Whether they want to go
out on a two-day walkout in order to encourage the university to
agree to our very reasonable demands for recognition."
Although an affirmative vote tonight authorizes the union to
strike, the committee would continue negotiations with the
administration before calling for any action.
"The reason for electing a committee is to give the university a
chance to meet with us and negotiate with us," Medearis said. "An
authorization for a walkout shows the administration that this is
what members of SAGE want to do."
Although a graduate employee strike would directly affect the
undergraduate students in their classes, some undergrads support
the union’s decision.
"It makes sense to me that they want to demonstrate," said
first-year chemistry student Robin Lester. "From what I’ve been
told, (graduate student employees) are ignored and trampled on. I
don’t mind as long as they’re willing to help us out like having
extra office hours and not just disappear."
Some undergraduates not only agree with the strike action, but
label the administration’s refusal to recognize the union as more
harmful to their education.
"The walkout would adversely affect (undergraduates) to an
extent, but the real source of (adversity) is the university’s
unwillingness to recognize SAGE," said fourth-year environmental
studies student Kevin Rudiger, and a member of an unofficial
organization of undergrad SAGE supporters.
"In the long run, giving (graduate students) a voice benefits
undergraduate education, because (they) are most directly involved
with undergraduate students."