IRVINE : Union Claims UCI Harasses Its Activists

Union organizers speaking at a rally of about 100 UC Irvine employees on Thursday accused university management of harassing union activists.

“No sooner did our union (University Professional and Technical Employees) begin to organize in earnest than the University of California fired our two key activists here on the Irvine campus,” said Libby Sayre of Berkeley, statewide president of the union.

“We believe this is a blatant attempt to intimidate and harass union activists,” she said.

UCI officials later denied the union’s accusations.

“UCI recognizes the rights of employees to be represented by unions, and it does not base any personnel actions on union activities,” said Karen Newell Young, a spokeswoman for the campus.

But Sayre and other union supporters at the rally scoffed at UCI management’s claim that it has done nothing to harass unions.

“UCI has the worst reputation with unions of all the campuses in the University of California,” Sayre said. “There’s a range of anti-worker behavior, and UCI represents the absolute extreme of anti-union sentiment within the university system. Part of it perhaps comes because Orange County is a very conservative place, and part of it comes from the fact that UCI is still a young campus.”

Another union activist, Raul Fernandez, a professor of comparative cultures, said many non-teaching personnel are frightened by UCI management. He said some staffers did not come to the rally because they feared retaliation.

“Today I talked to several secretaries who came to the rally but walked away when they saw a newspaper photographer here,” Fernandez said. “They told me, ‘Oh, I can’t be here because I might be in a photo, and I’d be recognized.’ ”

Fernandez said word has circulated among campus staffers about the layoff of Louise Anderson and the firing of George Radziszewski, both UCI employees and both present at the rally. Anderson is an organizer for the UPTE union, and Radziszewski is president of the UCI local of UPTE.

UCI officials have repeatedly said that the layoff of Anderson and the firing of Radziszewski have nothing to do with their union work.

“Louise Anderson was given a layoff notice because of budget reasons,” Young said. “I can’t comment on Radziszewski’s termination notice because it’s a personnel matter, but it had nothing to do with union activity.”

Fernandez, however, said: “I’ve seen it happen before. They just happen to fire the persons who have been active in union work.”

Fernandez said he thinks UCI has been embarrassed by publicity about the discharge of Radziszewski and Anderson.

“But it’s a two-edged sword for UCI,” Fernandez said. “While it may be embarrassing, it also intimidates people, and I think UCI would choose to take the embarrassment in this case.”

UCI officials said the campus actually has a large percentage of union workers. Young said that of 8,759 UCI employees, including teachers, 3,933, or 44%, belong to unions.

The vast majority of members are non-teaching staffers. Young said the only teaching staff represented by unions are 190 lecturers and 43 librarians, who belong to a local of the American Federation of Teachers.

Anderson, who has handled contracts and copyright work for UCI, told the audience she will continue her union organization work on campus despite her layoff.

“You’ll still be seeing me around campus,” she said. “They haven’t finished with me yet.”