Quick Take
The University of California has rules to ensure equitable working conditions, writes Missy Matella, associate vice president for systemwide employee and labor relations. She takes issue with a recent op-ed by UC Santa Cruz graduate student worker Rebecca Gross.
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I read with great interest the opinion piece published Aug. 27, “The UC forced strikes to end — but behind the scenes, it’s still waging war on student workers.” I wanted to clarify a few of the author’s claims.
In her piece, Rebecca Gross noted, “the judge’s order ended our labor action. Workers went back to work and this should have been the end of the matter.”
I agree that the judge’s order should have ended the strike and UAW’s ability to withhold labor at the end of the academic year. Unfortunately, some UAW-represented University of California employees continued to strike — violating the court order — despite UAW leadership telling them to return to work. Additionally, during the strike, which violated their contract’s no-strike clause, some workers falsified their timesheets, claiming they were working and should be paid when they were actually on strike.
Like any employer, University of California has rules to ensure equitable working conditions. These include accurate and honest reporting of absences and, for labor unions, adhering to our contracts. The UC is committed to the consistent and fair enforcement of its policies.
The UC relies on public funding, and it is our responsibility to be good stewards of those funds, particularly with this year’s budget constraints, which means accurate and honest time reporting and taking serious actions if these rules are not followed.
Continuing to strike and withhold labor in violation of a court order, despite instructions from an employee’s own union, is similarly egregious. UC respects represented employees’ rights under their collective bargaining agreements. To that end, UC must take action to ensure that those agreements are fairly and consistently enforced.
Missy Matella is associate vice president for systemwide employee and labor relations, University of California