Socialist Action /February 1999
Support Grows For UC Graduate Students' Struggle
By CHRISTINA EBERT
LOS ANGELES-A growing crowd of people toting bold protest signs and proudly
chanting slogans over the rushing traffic blots out the overcast skies above
Westwood Blvd. The day is Dec. 4, 1998, the fourth day of the ongoing SAGE/UAW
strike on the UCLA campus.
The strike took place on all eight University of California campuses,
as teaching assistants demanded the recognition of their union representative,
SAGE (Student Association of Graduate Employees).
The strike followed years of unsuccessful efforts by the graduate students
to gain the right of collective bargaining.
SAGE was striking with the help of the UAW (United Auto Workers), who
offered to help provide strike benefits for the participating TAs. Organizations
such as the National Association of Graduate Professional Students also
expressed their support of the SAGE strike.
While the strike evoked much support from UCLA undergraduates, many became
concerned as to whether their grades would be available on schedule and
how final exams would be conducted.
The main back-up plan of the administration appeared to be that of giving
multiple-choice exams to alleviate the hefty workload left to professors
and the remaining TAs. Rumors of hiring replacement workers also circulated,
but the university failed to confirm this as a possible solution.
Many undergraduates agree that they view their TAs as workers and that
they believe the TAs deserve to be recognized.
"I definitely support their cause," states Sammy Duong, a first-year
geography major whose TAs participated in the strike. "They are here
for graduate study but they work just as hard as the professors."
In the past, the university has failed to acknowledge that teaching assistants
are employees who are eligible for bargaining rights, as regular workers
would be.
The ability of SAGE to exist as a recognized union is viewed by the UC
system as unnecessary to the academic experience of a graduate student.
According to the university administration, TAs are more readily classified
as apprentices than as legal employees-and thus the need for collective
bargaining rights is superfluous.
A significant factor that aids the SAGE cause is a ruling of the California
Public Employee Relations Board (PERB). The ruling states that TAs are employees
of the university and entitled to bargaining rights.
The PERB decision came after the strike hit a 45-day "cooling-off
period" on Dec. 6, during which the university and SAGE will negotiate.
What will happen if SAGE's demands are not met is uncertain, but the possibility
of a second round of striking is likely.
The outcome of the negotiations will be cited as a model for similar
conflicts in colleges and universities all across the country for years
to come. Support continues to thrive for SAGE, and a decision to recognize
the bargaining rights of the UC graduate employees is impatiently awaited
by the enormous academic community that lies at the core of this struggle.
Socialist Action /February 1999 |