UCLA Teaching Aides OK Strike

Graduate student instructors at UCLA have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike in coming weeks, giving their fledgling union a new tool to pressure management into a quick resolution of stalled contract talks, union officials announced Saturday.

Teaching assistants at UCLA voted 808 to 95 in favor of a strike, the union reported. An additional 819 eligible members did not vote.

Teaching assistants at UC Davis voted for a strike by a similar margin. Six other University of California campuses are expected to follow with votes in the next few weeks, as union leaders step up complaints that the administration has failed to provide information and other cooperation needed to wrap up collective bargaining.

“They’ve been bargaining in bad faith,” said Connie Razza, spokesman for the Student Assn. of Graduate Employees, a unit of the United Auto Workers. “Our point is to bring them in compliance with the law.”

A strike by UCLA grad students would most likely be timed for the end of the winter term in mid-March--a time when professors rely heavily on them to grade exams and read term papers.

Last year, UC officials recognized the union’s estimated 9,000 teaching assistants, readers and tutors throughout the university system. But the two sides have yet to work out health benefits, workloads and other details to finish the first contract.

UC officials say that they have been bargaining in good faith and that talks have made good progress.