UCLA custodians voice wage grievances

At 10:30 p.m., Olivia Aracely walks into Kinsey Teaching Pavilion, broom and trash can in tow. The lecture hall has been empty of students for hours ““ all they’ve left behind are a few stray water bottles and discarded newspapers.

“Sometimes it’s much messier,” said Aracely, who usually visits three buildings each night. “It’s a lot of work.”

Aracely is one of dozens of UCLA Facilities Management maintenance staff who sweep through campus every night. From 5:30 p.m. to 2 a.m., they clean and repair classrooms and facilities students will use again the next day.

But while many students may never come into contact with them, these staff members have become increasingly visible to University of California leadership in recent years.

Much of the attention has been focused on staff wages and benefits, with workers calling for higher pay and the university maintaining that it does not have enough funding.

Custodial and maintenance staff members from a number of UC campuses, including UCLA, have attended UC Board of Regents meetings to voice concerns over their pay and encouraged the regents to authorize wage increases.

“It’s really bad for us right now,” said Lakesha Harrison, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, the union that represents UCLA service workers and technical employees at the medical center.

Harrison said many staff members’ wages are between 25 and 40 percent lower than their counterparts at other universities and in private industry, with blue-collar workers often facing wages $5 to $10 below market.

Much of the debate has centered around the Higher Education Compact, an agreement the UC and California State University systems made with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004 to stabilize state funding to the universities. The agreement ensures small increases in state funding each year until 2011 ““ when the compact expires ““ but also requires universities to undertake private fundraising and increase student fees.

Harrison said she believes the compact represents “a deal cut on the backs of workers.”

“They tell us there’s no money, but we always see some kind of executive benefit ““ executive this, executive that,” she said. “The UC’s mission should be to make sure all the workers are out of poverty.”

Victor Cedano, a supervisor of a UCLA custodial team, said he believes UCLA staff are underpaid for the work they do and has seen first-hand the effects low wages can have.

“(Sometimes) when we hire someone, they just quit after the first month,” he said. “I remember one guy, when he got his first paycheck, he said, “˜Victor, is this the check I’m going to be getting every two weeks? I can’t work for this. I’m not coming in tomorrow.'”

Custodians recently received a $0.75 per hour raise and now make $10.50 per hour, Cedano said.

Cedano himself has worked at UCLA for almost 20 years but says even now his salary isn’t enough to allow him to live in the Westwood area.

Instead, he drives 45 miles each way from Pomona, and he says most of his employees also face tough commutes.

“Most of the employees have to travel,” he said. “If I were living near L.A., I don’t think I could make my living on this salary.”

Cedano said paycheck deductions are more of a problem than the wages themselves.

Overnight custodial staff on Cedano’s team park in campus lots, and, each pay period, $17.50 is deducted from employees’ checks to pay for that parking, he said.

And parking, along with other costs, tends to increase when employees get raises.

“When we get a raise, something else goes up,” Cedano said. “The vending machines all went up to like a dollar higher (after a recent raise).”

But not every employee was dissatisfied ““ Aracely said comparatively speaking, she is happy with her pay at UCLA.

Before coming to UCLA a year ago, Aracely worked at Jack in the Box, and she prefers her new position for both financial and personal reasons.

“It’s better than other (jobs),” she said. “I work alone ““ I don’t have anyone following me around and telling me what I have to do.”

Some workers also find ways to cut costs. Aracely, for example, avoids paying for parking by carpooling with another employee.

Jim Phillips, a Facilities Management metal worker who has been at UCLA over 23 years, also said he is happy with current pay.

Trade workers, including metal workers, are paid differently than custodians, and Phillips said he believes his wages are on par with other universities or private industry.

“We’re comparable,” he said. “When you weigh the package we get, with benefits and everything, I think we’re comparable. I think most of the guys are satisfied.”

There are other benefits to working in a university environment as opposed to private industry, Phillips added.

“In a company, they’re concerned with production,” he said. “Here, it’s more of a quality thing. They just want you to do good work.”

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