UCI Teaching Assistants Authorize a Strike

UC Irvine teaching assistants joined Friday with their fellows at four other UC campuses to authorize a strike and pressure management in their stalled contract talks.

Members of the United Auto Workers-affiliated Student Workers’ Union at UCI voted 502 to 65 to authorize the strike.

No date for a walkout has been set. However, a strike probably would take place at the end of the winter quarter in the middle of this month, said Connie Razza, spokeswoman for the UC labor union, when professors rely on teaching assistants, readers and tutors to grade tests and term papers.

Unions at UC Riverside and UC Berkeley on Friday also voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. Student employees at UCLA and UC Davis authorized walkouts last week. UC San Diego and UC Santa Cruz are set to take strike votes next week. The vote was not precipitated by frustration over contract proposals, Razza said, but over unfair labor practices, including UC’s failure to provide information to union negotiators and pulling back proposals.

Negotiations take place both at the UC system level and on individual campuses.

UCI spokeswoman Sherry Angel responded to Friday’s vote by saying, “UCI is continuing to negotiate in good faith with the UAW and remains committed to reaching a contract agreement in a timely manner.”

The union represents teaching assistants, readers and tutors, a total of 10,200 employees in the UC system, with 1,025 at UCI.

UC officials recognized the union last year. The two sides have been negotiating since June and have yet to agree on their first contract. The UC system fought the unionization of teaching assistants, most of whom are graduate students, for 16 years.

Union members went on strike for four days in December 1998 until leaders of the state Legislature brokered a 45-day cooling off period. During that time, the California Public Employment Relations Board ruled the students were entitled to collective bargaining and urged UC to recognize the union.