UC officials earn failing grades from union
reps
The University Professional and Technical Employees union had a
protest party at the UCLA Medical Center yesterday.
Carrying balloons and the gift of a failing grade on labor
relations, UPTE members made their delivery to the offices of Dr.
Gerald Levey, provost of medical sciences, and Dr. Michael Karpf,
director of the medical center. Neither was in their office.
“We’ve graded the university, and they
failed,” said Cliff Fried, executive vice president of
UPTE.
Contracts for three units of employees UPTE represents ““
technical, health care and research workers ““ are currently
in the midst of bargaining.
Fried said the university has been reluctant at the bargaining
table and in providing information the union requests.
But UC spokesman Dan Kier said the university is doing its best
to respond to the information requests and has all its chips on the
bargaining table.
“All the money we have is there on the table,” Kier
said. “We’re offering to work within budget
allocations.”
Fried said there is a $1.9 billion pool of unrestricted funds
the university could use to increase wages .
“This is what’s in their present stockpile of
money,” he said.
Though the fund is designated unrestricted, Kier said the name
was for accounting uses only and that he’s “not sure if
they could be used for wages.”
He said the university hired additional staff to deal with the
information requests but that it’s difficult to meet multiple
requests in the same week. The university recently reached
agreements on five contracts with the Federated University Police
Officer Association, Coalition of University Employees and American
Federation of State, County and Municipal employees unions.
Fried said he expects to settle the UPTE contracts by the
beginning of next year.
Spanish civil war film shown
The Spanish civil war was the subject of a documentary
presentation and discussion in Royce Hall on Wednesday
afternoon.
The documentary film, “Dreams and Nightmares”, was
presented by Abe Osheroff, a former UCLA history professor who
fought in the Spanish Civil war from 1936-1939.
Osheroff, now 85, was a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, a
group of American progressives who fought alongside Spanish
republican forces against fascism in Spain during the 1930s.
Osheroff, who has also been an activist in Mississippi during
the 1960s, Central America during the 1980s, and in Seattle during
last year’s WTO protests, reflected on the importance of the
Spanish Civil War.
“Why study this little war?” Osheroff said.
“Fascism was growing all over the world without resistance.
The Spanish Civil war was the first time people stood up and said
no.”
Supermarket janitors file lawsuit
Janitors claiming they were paid below minimum wage and refused
overtime filed a class-action lawsuit Thursday against three
supermarket chains and a cleaning contractor.
The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on
behalf of about 600 janitors who say they clean Vons,
Albertson’s, and Ralphs supermarkets throughout the state,
said Blanca Gallegos, a spokeswoman for the Service Employees
International Union.
“The janitors are seeking the money that they are owed for
the unpaid hours and also for the supermarkets to take
responsibility,” Gallegos said. “The cleaning
contractor is illegally classifying the janitors as independent
contractors to cut costs.”
Compiled from Daily Bruin Staff and Wire reports.