In today’s bargaining update:
- We’ve filed an unfair labor practice charge against the university detailing ways they have undermined the bargaining process. This will force the university to engage in a fuller and lawful approach to bargaining in the future.
- We’ll hold a Data Science caucus meeting on Monday, April 10 at 11 a.m. in Cory 400
- The mayor of Sacramento has agreed to mediate, pending the university’s approval.
- Continue to sign onto the LBFO to show the university that we mean business.
- The university has spread misleading information about our proposals for wages and remission. Here are the facts.
For the last two months, we’ve been bargaining with the university to improve instructional quality in EECS/DS. The last time you heard from us via email, we had just offered the university our last, best and final offer, and we were moving toward mediation. We haven’t held a bargaining session since then.
While we remain optimistic that we can reach a fair deal, the university’s refusal to commit to this bargaining process at every turn has made this more difficult than it needs to be. As it turns out, this behavior isn’t just annoying—it’s also unlawful.
Yesterday, ASEs filed an unfair labor practice charge with California’s Public Employment Relations Board alleging the following violations of California’s Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act:
- Engaging in bargaining without an actual, good-faith intent to come to an agreement (Surface Bargaining)
- Repeatedly presenting bargaining proposals that are obviously unacceptable to ASEs, and fundamentally undermining provisions that the university has already agreed to through decades of systemwide bargaining
- Unilaterally changing the terms of the bargaining process by announcing that the bargaining process would be closed and publicly saying “bargaining has ended”
- Threatening to grievously violate the existing contract if we do not accept the university’s proposals.
- Interfering with organizing efforts among ASEs
- Distributing misleading and denigrating information to ASEs in an attempt to undermine the bargaining process
- Unilaterally holding meetings to discuss bargaining issues with ASEs in an attempt to bypass the bargaining process and elevate and exploit extreme minority viewpoints (such as the total elimination of fee remission)
- Refusing to provide information relevant to the bargaining process
You can read the full charges here. We are seeking a ruling from PERB that would order the university to cease and desist from engaging in these unlawful and unfair practices and force the university to engage in a fuller and lawful approach to bargaining in the future.
In other news:
- We will be holding a caucus on Monday, April 10 at 11 a.m. in Cory 400 to address the concerns of data science ASEs in the bargaining process. We highly encourage all DS course staff to come.
- We are pleased to share that Darrell Steinberg, the mayor of Sacramento, has agreed to mediate the side letter negotiations. Steinberg mediated the resolution to the UC-wide strike. We have notified the university of Steinberg’s willingness to mediate and are waiting to see whether they accept him as a mediator.
- We highly encourage all ASEs to continue to sign onto the LBFO letter, which outlines our resolve to win a fair agreement to increase staffing.
- The university has spread misleading information about our proposals for wages and remission. Here are the facts.
In solidarity,
Gabe Classon
CS 61A uGSI