Whereas, public sector workers are currently exempt from California wage and hour law under §220 of the Labor Code, and when workers are not paid for regular or overtime work, employers are not subject to penalty by the State Department of Labor Standards and Enforcement; and

Whereas, University Council-AFT faculty regularly perform research and service work that the University of California deems “voluntary” and refuses to adequately compensate for; and

Whereas, such putatively voluntary work is often required, clearly expected, and/or the only path to reappointment, advancement, and promotion; and

Whereas, the UC benefits from the fruit of this labor and the distinction, prestige, and institutional excellence it generates; and

Whereas, UC-AFT members are the victims of other forms of wage theft, for example, receiving only 0.33 of a full-time salary for an appointment at one-third of full-time; and

Whereas, in the wake of UC’s transition to a centralized personnel and human resources system (UC PATH), the UC has failed to issue paychecks to and/or deduct union dues from many workers represented by UC-AFT and other UC unions, thus depriving them of fair wages, and the current law has failed to provide any recourse for these victims of wage theft; and

Whereas, UC-AFT is combatting UC PATH wage theft in coalition with UAW, Local 2865, which represents academic student employees, and other UC unions because all UC workers need enhanced legal protections in light of UC’s egregious failure to comply with wage and hour law; and

Whereas, UAW 2865 has sponsored AB 673 (Carrillo, D-Los Angeles) and SB 698 (Leyva, D-Chino) to address these issues;

Therefore, be it resolved, that the CFT join with other UC unions in coalition to support, AB 673 and SB 698 and lobby for an end to exempting the UC from California’s wage and hour protections; and

Be it further resolved, to support these two bills in the current session and pursue further additional steps at a later time.
 

• Passed as Resolution 20 by CFT Convention on March 24, 2019
• Submitted by University Council-AFT