UCLA service workers were joined by students and other
university employees in a rally outside the UC Board of Regents
meeting Wednesday.
Banging pots and pans, blowing whistles and holding signs,
workers announced that they had voted overwhelmingly to strike if
they do not receive what they see as a fair contract.
Workers have been in negotiations with the university since last
June, and have now decided that they will strike if they do not
receive higher wages and the opportunity for advancement in the new
contract.
“We’re asking for a chance to advance … (and) a
fair living wage increase,” said Ricardo Rodriguez, a
security guard who has been a UC employee since he was 19.
If the negotiations conclude without a satisfactory contract,
the workers will strike, he said, adding that this would likely be
about a month away.
“If we don’t get a fair contract, then we will
strike,” he said.
UC officials say they will do their best to negotiate a contract
that will work for both the university and the workers. “The
university is working very hard on a fair contract for our service
employees,” said Howard Pripas, executive director of labor
relations for UC.
With the wages they receive now, workers say are struggling and
often have to pick up second and third jobs.
“The cost of living is so high, we can barely make
it,” said Luz Roman, who has worked as an assistant cook in
UCLA Catering for nine years.
Roman is a single mother of three and has had to take on a
second job to put her two oldest children through college.
Even with a second job, Roman is still barely able to make ends
meet.
“We have to struggle so hard and it’s been like this
for over three years. We’re just asking for fair
wages,” Roman said.
Even with two jobs, Roman said she has to shop at thrift
stores.
“When we go to shop, it is a shame, but we go to Salvation
Army. Working at this university, it is a shame,” Roman said,
pausing as she wiped tears from her eyes.
“I’m not ashamed of it, but they should be,”
she said of the university.
Roman is not alone, and many other university employees say they
have to take on second and third jobs.
Many students showed up in support of the workers, joining the
picket line, waving signs and chanting.
“This university is supposed to help people rise up …
but they’re suppressing the workers,” said Sarah
Winter, a first-year undeclared student who joined the picket
line.
A few students came to speak out against the strike, holding
signs that said the workers should go elsewhere if they were
unhappy with their wages.
“If they can make higher wages somewhere else, they should
go there,” said David Lazar, a second-year economics
student.
These students also said that workers should not ask for wages
based on need but based on productivity.
But the counter-protests were few and far more students showed
support for the workers.
“I’m in support of the workers,” said Liz
Hardy, a first-year undeclared student. “I think they should
get fair rights.”
The workers have decided to strike, and now the ball is in the
university’s court, said Brian Rudiger of American Federation
of State County and Municipal Employees.
“The university has the power and the means to avert a
strike by bargaining fairly and meeting our proposals, that we
think would … stop creating poverty,” he said.