Custodian union says it's ready to lift boycott at Cal
San Francisco Chronicle 5/4/07
The deal would provide a $1.75-an-hour increase for custodians at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara and UC Santa Cruz and a 75 cents an hour raise for custodians at other UC campuses, according to Local 3299 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
The compromise also calls for hiring UC Irvine groundskeepers, who now work for a contractor, as full-time UC employees. In addition it provides for small wage adjustments UC-wide for lower-paid workers who aren't custodians.
The terms are contained in an April 24 letter from Burton to state Sen. Don Perata, which the union released Thursday in a bid to end a more than yearlong campaign to bring the pay of custodians on the three campuses to the level of laborers who do similar work for comparable higher-education institutions in the same geographic areas.
The option to grant such equity pay raises is contained in the union's agreement with the UC president's office. Although the employer is under no contractual obligation to provide equity raises, William Schmidt, the union's political communications director, said they are given routinely to bring the rates for certain job classifications to local market levels.
When no agreement was reach last year, union supporters boycotted the four campuses. At UC Berkeley, the boycott resulted in picketing at several commencement events last spring and cancellations by high-profile speakers.
On Monday, actor Danny Glover said he will not give the keynote speech at Cal's premiere graduation event, the commencement convocation Wednesday, unless the pay issue is resolved. The event is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the Greek Theatre.
Union organizer Seth Newton said the union is reviewing the schedule of Cal's other graduation events. In addition to the convocation, more than 100 departmental events are planned on campus from May 10 through May 21.
"There will be picket lines at any commencement ceremonies where national dignitaries need to be reminded of the boycott, or educators, if they aren't already aware," Newton said.
UC Berkeley spokeswoman Marie Felde responded: "Many on campus continue to find it hard to understand why the unions feel it is OK to take their labor issue and disrupt one of the most important days in a young person's life."
Burton, in his letter, called for the dispute to be resolved before the graduation events. "It would be a great dishonor to the University of California should this dispute unnecessarily disrupt graduation ceremonies again this year," he wrote.
The dispute centers not on the fairness of raises by lower-wage workers but on how the raises are to be distributed throughout the system, according to a statement by the UC president's office.
The only remaining issue blocking the agreement is the union's refusal to distribute the increases to the workers whose wages are most below market levels throughout the system, according to the statement. UC says the union instead wants to give disproportionately high wages to custodians at three campuses, which the university calls discriminatory.