U of California teaching assistants threaten strike

For the administration at the University of California system, time is running out.

Administrators at the universities have until Dec. 17 to recognize their graduate student instructors as an organized union or the GSIs at eight of the nine campuses plan to strike.

The struggle for collective bargaining rights for the GSI has been going on since the late 1970s. Under the present state law, based on a 1992 case from the University of California at Berkeley, graduate teaching assistants are not considered employees and therefore do not have collective bargaining rights.

GSIs at some of the California campuses have staged strikes in the past to support their right to organize, but the possible upcoming strike would be the biggest since it will involve eight California campuses. Even the United Auto Workers have affi

JESSICA JOHNSON/Daily Music sophomore Adrienne Miller battles yesterday's strong winds and rain in an attempt to get to class.

liated with the GSI union in its strike efforts. Jim Turner, the assistant vice chancellor of graduate programs at the University California at Los Angeles, said the UAW has plans to reimburse striking GSIs.

Joe Duggan, the associate dean of Berkeley's Graduate Division, said the GSI union wants the university to recognize them as bargaining agents outside the state law, which it is free to do. But the administration is reluctant to make such a move.

Duggan said a strike would only harm the undergraduates, who depend on the GSIs for 75 percent of the discussion sections and some primary classes. He said he is unsure of what the GSIs will do, but Berkeley will not give in to their demands if they do strike.

"We will not grant them bargaining outside of state law," Duggan said. "If the state law changes then we'll recognize them."

Berkeley law student Ricardo Echoa, president of the local Associated Graduate Student Employees Union, said the administration is using the state ruling as a stalling tactic.

"It's irrelevant," Echoa said. "They can do it voluntarily under state law, but the university doesn't want to give up its unilateral power.

"They've broken the law by refusing to bargain," he said.

UCLA's Turner said graduate student teaching assistants receive salaries and benefits that are "comparable to if not better than most universities."

Turner said the average monthly salary for a GSI in the 1997-98 academic year was $1,452. They also receive health benefits and a partial fee remission, which shaves about two-thirds off in-state tuition.

With these "competitive" benefits, Turner said GSIs have filed few complaints or grievances about reparation or workloads. Despite the apparent satisfaction with their jobs, the GSIs still want collective bargaining rights.

He said UCLA is waiting to hear if the state will accept the decision an administrative-law judge recommended two years ago mandating that teaching assistants are actually employees, not just students.

But Turner maintained that "the basic position of the university is that the primary reason for the TAs and research assistants is not provide them with work."

"It's to enhance their educational training and skills related to their subsequent careers," Turner said. "It's not just a job. Their student status takes priority over the job."

However, UCLA sociology GSI Steven Sherwood said the GSIs feel they should have the title of employee as well as student.

"The argument of the union is that the TAs are essential," Sherwood said. "They do a lot of the gruntwork, but the amount and condition of the work are not being fairly compensated."

Turner said since the GSIs teach their own classes in addition to leading discussion sections, a strike would have an impact on the university. He said without the GSI help, some professors may opt to give exams that are easier to grade or hire substitutes.

Chip Smith, the University of Michigan's Graduate Employees Organization's bargaining committee spokesperson, said the GEO supports California's GSIs, because they have a "fundamental right" to organize.

"We are employees and workers as well as students," Smith said.

In relation to the University's GEO's own bargaining efforts to gain more benefits when its contract expires, Smith said that while a strike is always a possibility, he hopes "it's not going to come to that."

"The one strength we have is the ability to withhold our labor," he said. "That's a pretty significant power."

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