On the picket line

UC researchers, technicians win contract

It took two years of tough bargaining and community mobilizing, but the University Professional and Technical Employees, Communications Workers of America Local 9119, won a tentative contract the week of Feb. 22 covering 9,000 researchers and technicians at the University of California. Union members gained public and community support through a media campaign and lobbied the state Legislature. The five-year agreement provides pay increases of 14.5 percent over the contract, plus an initial $1,000 payment. Other improvements include a $1.7 million equity pool to address pay inequities in some job categories, and the university agreed to contribute 4 percent to the workers’ pensions this year and to limit cost increases in workers’ health benefits. “This is a great agreement, especially considering the terrible state of California’s economy. We won good raises ... and will continue to fight for workers at U.C., especially in the area of job security,” said UPTE-CWA Local 9119 President Jelger Kalmijn.

Faculty file for union election in Michigan

A majority of the nontenure-track faculty at Central Michigan University filed for a union representation election on Feb. 23. The Union of Teaching Faculty, which is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers and represents more than 6,500 higher education faculty in the state, will negotiate job security, salary increases, health insurance and professional development issues. Full- and part-time nontenure-track faculty teach close to half of all undergraduate credit hours, mostly in introductory courses. Not only do these highly qualified, experienced teachers earn much lower pay than tenure-track colleagues, they receive reduced benefits, have little job security, and often aren’t consulted about important departmental decisions.

Univ. of Tenn. employees fight cuts

Hundreds of university employees, members of United Campus Workers, Communication Workers of America Local 3865, rallied Feb. 25 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville to fight proposed state higher education budget cuts of $61 million. Protesters marched to the president’s office to deliver a letter calling on the administration to look at other strategies before laying off hundreds of support staff and nontenured faculty members. Over the past 10 years, top administrative salaries have nearly doubled to $76.1 million, while salaries of operational support workers, including programmers, secretaries and library staff, have actually decreased. The average salary of workers slated to be laid off is $23,500 a year. UCW represents 1,000 university workers at seven University of Tennessee campuses.

Pittsburgh passes prevailing wage law

The Pittsburgh City Council unanimously passed a citywide policy on Feb. 19 that will require developers receiving government subsidies or other tax incentives to pay the private sector going rate to building service, food service, hotel and grocery workers. The law also requires city contractors to pay prevailing wages to their workers. That has inspired workers in New York’s Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ to demand the same law in New York City, reports the Feb. 24 American City and County periodical. “Cities around the country should follow Pittsburgh’s lead and get out of the business of creating poverty jobs,” said 32BJ President Mike Fishman.

Mass. and R.I. workers vs. Stop & Shop

Nearly 40,000 members of five locals of the United Food and Commercial Workers union were set to strike 240 Stop and Shop stores in Massachusetts and Rhode Island if a new three-year agreement was not reached by midnight on Feb. 27. But UFCW announced Feb. 28 that negotiations will resume March 2 over wages, pensions and health insurance contributions. (Patriot Ledger, Feb. 28)

S.F. Labor Council supports Mexican workers

The San Francisco Central Labor Council passed a resolution on Feb. 8 denouncing the takeover of Mexico’s national energy utility last October. All 44,000 electrical workers were fired and their union crushed so that President Felipe Calderón could sell the nationalized industry to private transnational buyers. The resolution calls for the workers and their union to be reinstated and a settlement negotiated to maintain the nationalized utility. The resolution states that “the attempt to unilaterally destroy the Mexican Electricians Union, disregarding their legally binding labor contract and labor laws, is an extreme human rights violation and a threat to all organized labor in Mexico and internationally.”