UCSD CAMPUS NOTICE University of California, San Diego |
|
ACADEMIC SENATE: SAN DIEGO DIVISION March 30, 1999 The Academic Senate Council is concerned that Senate members and graduate students be informed about the issues concerning unionization of teaching assistants. We have gathered what information we could, and forward it in the text which follows. This information is also available at: http://www-senate.ucsd.edu/TA_issues.htm We urge all eligible graduate students to vote in the upcoming election, as all who are eligible to vote will be affected by the outcome. We also encourage graduate advisors to contact their students to make certain that they are aware of the election and its importance. John M. Goodkind, Chair Academic Senate Council ************* Information Concerning Unionization Of Teaching Assistants (TAs) I. The issue An election will be held on this campus for graduate teaching assistants to decide whether to be organized for collective bargaining by the United Auto Workers Union. Faculty opinion on the subject is not unanimous, but we are concerned that all students eligible to participate in such an election do so and that they be well informed on the issues involved. Based on anecdotal information gathered from faculty colleagues at other universities where graduate students are organized, we are confident that UCSD will continue to function as a top ranked research university whether or not the election takes place and regardless of its outcome if it does take place. However, this anecdotal evidence, as well as substantial amounts of additional information provided below, presents a strong case that UCSD and its graduate TAs have little to gain from unionization and that unionization could potentially bring harm to graduate education at UCSD. We attempt here to provide some information and to describe some of the possible consequences for the university and for TAs should they vote to organize under the UAW. The union and the students associated with the unionization movement have been unwilling to discuss specific issues with the UC administration prior to an election. Thus we are unable to determine with certainty exactly what changes the union wishes to bring to UCSD. However, the WEB pages of the unions at the campuses that are organized list the benefits which unions claim to have won for the TAs at those campuses. In the following pages we list those benefits and examine them to determine which are already in place or are currently under discussion at UCSD and systemwide UC. In some cases we know and describe some of the negative impacts of union negotiated benefits that have been made elsewhere. The UAW contract with the University of Massachusetts is on file at the Office of Graduate Studies and Research (OGSR) so that some of the benefits gained as well as the intrusion into academic issues by that contract are included in the discussion which follows. II. General issues associated with unionization There are three types of union "shops" that are used nationwide. The open shop is the only one currently allowed under California law. In it, only union members pay dues, but all others are governed by the contract reached with the union. The agency shop is one in which non-union members must pay an "agency fee" and are also governed by the contract signed with the union. At the University of Massachusetts, organized by the UAW, union members pay dues of 2% of gross pay; non-union members pay an agency fee of 1.8% of gross pay. The California Assembly and Senate have in recent years passed legislation paving the way for agency shops in the HEERA bill. Governor Wilson vetoed these past efforts, but they could be passed again under the new governor. The closed shop is one in which no one may be hired who is not a union member. This is currently not allowed under California law, and we are not aware of any effort to make it so. Union dues for graduate students at the organized campuses average about 1.5% of gross salary. We do not know what issues will be submitted for negotiation if an election is held and won for unionization. However, issues raised in the past and discussed below indicate that there is likely to be intrusion by the UAW into decisions that are of fundamental importance to our teaching responsibilities. Additional intrusions would then likely be the subject of each future negotiation. Examples of such progression are provided by the contract between the UAW and the University of Massachusetts. At U. Mass. both RA's and TAs are unionized and it is likely that the UAW would attempt to do the same here. The close relationship between a RA working on thesis research and a faculty mentor is very different from that of employer-employee. As graduate students progress, they change from dependent students to professional colleagues. Union work rules and hiring rules could not enhance that relationship, but have the potential for harming it. The U. Mass. agreement requires principal investigators to follow rules about posting the number of RA positions to be offered in pending or current research grants and to specify probable duration of the work without using the phrase "subject to the availability of funding." The number of RAs relative to the numbers of post docs and technicians appropriate for a research project will depend on the quality and capability of those available. Pressure on PI's to hire RAs who do not appear satisfactory for the work will not foster the necessary close relationship between graduate student and faculty mentor. Another example of the intrusion of the union into academic decisions is in the U. Mass. agreement which specifies that Unions must be consulted if budget cuts are planned for a school or college. A not uncommon consequence of union negotiations is a stalemate that leaves union members with less favorable conditions than non-union members. Unionized staff at UCSD have been delayed by two years in receiving wage increases offered by the University and already provided to other employees. Readers and Tutors at Berkeley voted for union representation five years ago, but no contract agreement has yet been reached. Dissatisfaction by the University Police with their union representation was so great that they organized an election and decertified it. Decertification is, however, very unusual and difficult to organize so that a decision to organize under the UAW would be essentially irrevocable. III. TA issues at UCSD A. Equity of work load The major issue at UCSD appears to be that TAs in the writing and language programs work longer hours than TAs in other departments and programs. The Graduate Council of the Academic Senate is currently attempting to obtain better information about workloads through a survey of graduate students. It might appear that a solution would be simply to increase the number of TAs assigned to the program so that the workload on each is reduced to the level of other programs. Doing so would require either transferring funds from other programs within the university or obtaining increased funding from the legislature. Allocation of TA positions is determined through the office of our Senior Vice Chancellor after agreement is reached within the Program Review Committee (PRC), which includes representatives from the faculty. The PRC will be considering a proposal to increase allocations to the writing programs during the spring quarter. An alternative is to insist that students work no more than 20 hours per week and that they limit the time they spend grading each paper so that the work is completed in that time. This would imply that the TAs would be doing a less perfect job than they wish to do, and it would also lead to poorer grading by TAs who work more slowly and who would, therefore, wish to spend more time. Another alternative is to reduce the requirements for the course so that less grading of papers by TAs is required. This would imply a lowering of academic standards that is not acceptable to faculty or TAs. In the long term, this problem will need to be solved across the campus because of anticipated large increases of enrollment that are unlikely to be fully funded by the state legislature. Both the Senate and the Senior Vice Chancellor have been actively examining innovative new methods of instruction that will both improve our teaching and make it possible for us to maintain quality instruction with the large student/faculty and student/TA ratios that we are obliged to accept. This will only come about through collaboration of faculty and TAs to experiment with and develop the new methods. Judging from union negotiations elsewhere and the resulting contracts, we could be forced by the union to adopt rigid hiring and work rules which would inhibit the development and use of such methods. B. Health care for dependents of TAs A previous attempt to obtain a health care provider for dependents of TAs was rejected by a committee of graduate students because it was far too costly and would impose a burden on the majority of TAs who are without families. A special task force on Graduate Student Employee Health Insurance was convened in November of 1998 in the UC Office of the President to explore health insurance options for graduate students. A key issue under review is insurance for dependents because of the high cost of such insurance for a group the size of the TA population. The task force is investigating a variety of means for obtaining providers at acceptable cost. Since the University is currently anticipating a need to increase the ratio of graduate students to undergraduates it is very much in its interests to provide the best possible pay and benefits to compete with other universities. Typical union negotiations could influence the outcome only if they resulted in an increase in total state funding for the university, which is unlikely, or if they forced cuts in other programs within the university. IV. Union statements regarding benefits A general statement of the goals of TA unions is provided by the University of Illinois "Graduate Employees Bill of Rights." 1) The right to representation 2) The right to seek impartial resolution of grievances 3) The right to equal and fair treatment 4) The right to clearly defined professional responsibilities 5) The right to adequate compensation and benefits 6) The right to safe working conditions Numbers 2, 5, and 6 are fully provided at UCSD. Numbers 3 and 4 are partially provided, and some of the issues involved in expanding them are discussed. Number 1 will be decided by vote of the TAs. 1) The right to representation by a union has been at issue in the courts and through the state Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) under the state Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA) for several years. If elections are held, that right is no longer in dispute and the issue becomes one of whether there are sufficient benefits for TAs relative to possible negative impacts to justify a favorable vote. That is the subject of this paper. 2) TAs at UCSD already have well-defined third party grievance procedures under Academic Personnel Manual (APM), Section 140. Union negotiators elsewhere have argued that they have the right to file grievances even against the wishes of the student involved. In addition to the burden of holding grievance hearings, many TAs who do not currently work a full 20 hours would be forced to do so and also to keep track of their working hours. This also has the potential to severely damage the relationship between professor and student. 3) Equal treatment is at issue, specifically with regard to workloads as discussed above. Some changes are needed, primarily in the UCSD writing programs, and these problems are being addressed, as discussed above, through normal university procedures that consider the needs of the university community as a whole. Other inequities in workload are due to deliberate decisions by departments as to how to best benefit their graduate students. For example, one department has adopted a policy that first year graduate students receive no TA support; second year students receive 25%, and third year students 33%. The teaching responsibilities are arranged such that the workload is no more than six hours per week. Union rules that require equity between this department and, for example, the writing programs would clearly force this department to support fewer students and to require that they work longer hours. Union rules requiring all students to be hired at 50% would substantially reduce the number who would receive support. 4) The description of the TA position and responsibilities is provided in the APM and in the UCSD Policy and Procedure Manual (PPM). Much more explicit rules demanded by union negotiators elsewhere would eliminate the flexibility of TA and faculty mentor to change methods of instruction in response to student performance and needs. For example, the union has demanded in negotiations elsewhere that job duties be prescribed several months before the start of the term and not be altered during the term. If the instructor in charge of a course then decided that a TA was sufficiently skilled and knowledgeable to deliver a lecture during the quarter, and the student was anxious to gain the experience, union rules would not allow it. 5) By comparison to 21 other large state universities, UCSD already provides the highest compensation. Average total compensation in 1997-98 (cash salary minus tuition and fees) for TAs in the UC system are better than at all of the 21 comparison public institutions: Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Virginia, U. Washington, Wisconsin. The three lowest paid among these are Unionized. 6) Federal and state laws monitored by a large staff at the UCSD department of Environment, Health and Safety protect all members of the university community. V. Specific benefits claims Specific benefits gains claimed by unions on their WEB pages at Rutgers, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Kansas and the status of those issues at UCSD are discussed next along with some of the potential negative impacts of union demands. A. Benefits fully provided at UCSD 1) Protection from discrimination--There are several agencies at UCSD whose purpose is to prevent discrimination of all kinds, and there is more than one route to file a grievance if discrimination is suspected. 2) Guaranteed office space--To our knowledge all TAs at UCSD are provided with a desk, usually in a room shared with other TAs. 3) Staff library privileges--Graduate students have full library privileges at UCSD. 4) Prevention from arbitrary firing--We are not aware of any such occurrence at UCSD. If it were to occur, there is a well-defined third party grievance procedure, described in the Academic Personnel Manual (APM) section 140. 5) Universities that grant generous benefits can withdraw them unilaterally at any time--There is no example that we know of in the history of UCSD of such withdrawal. 6) English language training for international graduate student instructors--All graduate students from foreign countries are required to pass an oral exam to demonstrate their English language proficiency prior to becoming a TA. If they fail, they are offered a class, which is free, to improve their English and to instruct them on functioning as an instructor in an American University. The Center for Teaching Development offers individual assistance to international students at no charge. 7) Hours and grievances for overtime pay--The work hours for TAs are limited to 20 per week. There is no provision for working more and, therefore, no provision for overtime pay. The issue of TAs working more than 20 hours per week is discussed above and is being addressed by committees of the faculty Academic Senate. 8) Paid training--The quarter starts officially several days before instruction starts, and TAs are paid for the quarter. All training takes place either during the days of the quarter before the start of classes or else while classes are in progress. 9) Dental benefits--A dental clinic in the Student Health Center is available to all students. A dental plan covering dental care outside of the student health organization is also available. ("Smile Saver Plan 300" is sponsored by the UCSD Graduate Student Association). Optical care is also currently provided to UCSD students as part of their health care package. B. Benefits partially provided at UCSD and possible costs of changes through union negotiations 10) Tuition waivers--Tuition is charged only for out of state or foreign students. American citizens from out of state become residents after one year. Tuition as well as fees is paid at least in part for all graduate TAs and RAs. Our graduate dean is gathering information to attempt to determine the number of graduate students receiving various amounts for fees and tuition. Fellowships, assistantships, and other funding sources are often in different systems such as payroll or OGSR or an outside agency. In some cases, students receive direct reimbursement for fees from an outside agency or employer. It is widely recognized at UCSD that we are losing many of the highest quality graduate school applicants to other universities because the financial package that we offer in the first year is not competitive with fellowships elsewhere. The main reason for this is the out of state tuition that departments must pay for students from other countries or from other states. The issue of tuition waivers and graduate fellowships has been raised at the local level and at the statewide level with the administration and directly with members of the Board of Regents. Union negotiations at the campus level would not apply pressure where it is needed to obtain funding of tuition waivers and could interfere with fund raising from private donors to establish fellowship funds. 11) Subsidized childcare--There is a childcare facility at UCSD for which the university pays for maintenance of the physical facility, and the campus subsidizes some of the operating expenses. It accepts children of faculty, staff and students (both graduate and undergraduate). Students qualify for a state subsidy for low-income families, and there are currently 56 student families with subsidized childcare at the facility (the center does not record whether they are graduate or undergraduate students). There are 55 subsidized student families on the waiting list for the facility, but the subsidy can also be used at other such facilities. If the university were forced to subsidize childcare, it would have to pay for a subsidy that is currently provided by the state. 12) Unspecified improvement of "working conditions"--Specific working conditions are the subject of several other items discussed here. Union demands for working conditions and rules have, in other cases, gone beyond and interfered with more urgent interests of their members. They also have implied control over academic issues. One union demand in negotiations over Readers and Tutors at Berkeley has been that if a reader states that the assigned work can not be finished in the time allotted by the professor, the hours and funding assigned to the position must be increased without any other considerations or negotiations. Pay raises for staff, provided by the university, have been delayed for unionized employees for two years because negotiations are stalled over work rule changes. The university has offered to provide the pay raises prior to final contract agreement but the union has refused. 13) Written hiring policies--These are described in the UCSD Policy and Procedure Manual, Section 165-82. Definitions of Teaching Assistant and Teaching Fellow are provided in APM 410. However, detailed hiring policies that some union negotiations have attempted to institute would seriously interfere with the academic functions of the university. For example, negotiations concerning Readers and Tutors at Berkeley are stalled over union control of issues such as: a) Who may be hired as a TA. Any requests by faculty for exceptions to the requirements would be judged by the union alone. b) The union has attempted to require that no undergraduate may be hired for a position (as Reader or Tutor) if a graduate student, even from another department, wants the job. c) How many TAs may be employed. d) All TAs must be hired at the same 50% appointment. e) How and when openings for TA positions will be described and announced. The union has attempted to require that the number of positions to be filled be posted long in advance of the beginning of each term and, therefore, before enrollment figures are known. No adjustments would then be allowed even if enrollment figures changed substantially. f) The training required for a TA position is to be determined by the union rather than faculty in charge of the courses. g) Assignment of TAs to courses is to be determined by the union rather than department staff or faculty. h) Assignment to specific TA tasks within the courses such as grading, leading recitation sections, or instructing in laboratories would be controlled by the union rather than the instructor. 14) Job security--UCSD has a time limit of four years of graduate work after which a student is no longer eligible for a TA or RA position. Exceptions may be and are frequently granted by the Graduate Dean for up to six years. Other than this, we are not aware of graduate students in good standing who have lost financial support. A job security issue that is raised by unions is that of seniority so that TAs who have been teaching longest have preference for employment. This would constrain the choice of TAs by faculty so that they could not select the students best qualified for specific positions. 15) Wages tied to faculty salaries--This is normally true at UCSD since range adjustments are made to faculty, staff and TAs alike. However, one recent adjustment of faculty salaries, during the economic recession, to bring them closer to our comparison institutions was not matched in TA or staff raises. On the other hand, in 1995 when the budget cuts in California forced UC to reduce pay for faculty and staff by 5%, the TAs were protected and did not experience the reduction. 16) Pay for all hours worked--A 50% TA is salaried, and the maximum allowed workload is set at 20 hours per week. The Graduate Council of the Academic Senate is currently conducting a poll of TAs to make workload comparisons between departments and programs. As discussed above, union rules are normally rigid and could prevent adjustments and instructional innovations that might otherwise be used. 17) More training at the department level--Polls of graduate students taken at the time they receive their degrees indicate that the lack of training for their roles as TAs is an important issue. The UCSD Center for Teaching Development is available to instructors at all levels, without cost, and many graduate TAs have used its services. Although most instructors meet with TAs prior to the beginning of and during instruction, instruction and mentoring apparently needs improvement in some departments or courses. This is an issue in which the Academic Senate can play a constructive role. It is very unlikely that a union could do so through the imposition of rules. 18) Job notification (more than 2 weeks notice of teaching assignment)--The total number of TA positions in any given department for the next year are known during the spring before the academic year begins and the positions are offered to entering and continuing students and that time. However, actual work assignments are frequently made at the start of the quarter when enrollment figures are known. C. Benefits currently under consideration 19) Smaller class size--The size of classes seen by TAs is determined by the number of TAs available to the course and the manner in which it is taught. These issues are discussed above. 20) Health care for dependents--(see above) D. Benefits not provided and possible impacts of doing so 21) Cap on student fees--Student fees for all graduate and undergraduate students are set by the Regents subject to the budget provided by the state legislature. Negotiations on this issue would, in effect, require that the union negotiate directly with the legislature. It might seem advantageous for the university to have some other agency assume this responsibility but it would substantially complicate the delicate negotiations between UC and the legislature. It would also compromise the constitutional insulation of the UC system from politics. Other student activity fees are voted upon by the student body and presumably would not be subject to union negotiation. VI. Universities in which TAs are unionized and their unions A table of campuses on which TAs are organized and the unions representing them is provided below. Organizers such as A.F.T., A.A.U.P., and N.E.A. are specifically organized around the education community. U.A.W. and the others are not. In an election here, TAs will be given only the option to organize under the U.A.W. Once organized under any union, removal of union representation is very difficult so that a decision to organize under a union will bind all future graduate students. Universities With Recognized Collective-Bargaining Agents for Graduate Students City U. of New York (A.T.F./A.A.U.P./P.S.C.) Florida A&M University (N.E.A.) Rutgers University (A.A.U.P.) State U of New York at Albany (C.W.A.) State U of New York at Binghamton (C.W.A.) State U of New York at Buffalo (C. W. A) State U of New York At Stony Brook (C.W.A) U of California at Berkeley * (U.A.W.) U of California at San Diego * (U.A.W.) U of Florida (N.E.A.) U of Iowa (U.E.) U of Kansas (A.F.T) U of Massachusetts at Amherst (U.A.W.) U of Michigan (A.F.T.) U of Oregon (A.F.T.) U of South Florida (N.E.A.) U of Wisconsin at Madison (A.F.T.) Wayne State University (A.F.T.) Universities Where Unions Are Campaigning for Recognition and Bargaining Rights Florida State University (N.E.A.) Indiana University at Bloomington (C.W.A.) New York University (U.A.W.) Temple University (A.F.T.) U of California at Berkeley **(U.A.W.) U of California at Davis (U.A.W.) U of California at Irvine (U.A.W.) U of California at Los Angeles (U.A.W.) U of California at Riverside (U.A.W.) U of California at San Diego ** (U.A.W.) U of California at Santa Barbara (U.A.W.) U of California at Santa Cruz (U.A.W.) U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (A.F.T.) U of Minnesota (A.F.T./N.E.A.) Yale University (HERE) Key: A.A.U.P.: American Association of University Professors A.F.T.: American Federation of Teachers C.W.A.: Communications Workers of America HERE: Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union N.E.A.: National Education Association P.S.C: Professional Staff Congress U.A.W.: United Auto Workers U.E.: United Electrical *Bargaining rights for readers and tutors only, not for teaching assistants ** Campaigning for bargaining rights for teaching assistants SOURCE: COALITION OF GRADUATE EMPLOYEE UNIONS The Chronicle of Higher Education |