University Articles
Students need more mental health support on campus, faculty too
In a recent survey of UC-AFT faculty, members highlighted mental health as an issue that deserves our union’s attention and energy. UC students experiencing psychological challenges often seek support from lecturers and other contract faculty, who are sometimes the only faculty with whom they can develop a one-to-one relationship.
Librarians are determined to win a better contract
UC librarians and their union, the University Council-AFT, has three priority issues in the negotiations of their contract with university administrators: salary and economic issues, academic freedom, and temporary librarians.
University Council-AFT: Bringing dignity to UC lecturers and librarians
Download a single-sheet illustrated history of the University Council-AFT
In September of 1978, Gov. Jerry Brown made good on a promise to the CFT and signed the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, authorizing employees of the UC and CSU systems to engage in collective bargaining.
The University Council-AFT had already been formally organized on June 19, 1971, when seven AFT locals at UC voted to establish themselves as a council. The council and its constituent locals had represented UC employees as a non-bargaining agent since 1963.
Building a member-driven union at the university
UC Berkeley Site Rep Khalid Kadir says, “Ultimately, we’re a member-driven union, and we’re here to serve what members want to do.”
Unions get full and timely access to new employees
New law leads to union negotiating rules for employee orientation
In April 2016, Julia Troche applied to be a lecturer in Egyptology at UCLA. “It was my alma mater as an undergrad, so this was a special position for me, a chance to give back to the institution that gave me so much,” she says. She’d received an email from the department chair of Near Eastern Language and Culture asking her to apply. “She told me there was no guarantee of continuing employment, but it would put me in a good place while I looked for a tenure-track appointment.”
Members unite to fight Trump’s immigration orders
Council builds solidarity by engaging with members on issues that unite
Before the election our focus was on leadership development,” says Mia McIver, vice president for organizing for the University Council-AFT, “and the election brought us a sense of new urgency.” Strong leaders will provide the underpinning for the campaigns the union will undertake as it faces the Trump administration and a predictable tsunami of anti-union and anti-education measures.
The Trump effect on American politics
New book puts dominant parties on the analyst’s couch
After the election, California Teacher interviewed Robert Samuels, president of the University Council-AFT, and author of the new book, Psychoanalyzing the Left and Right After Donald Trump.
Writing instructors begin to organize systemwide
Largest discipline of lecturers sets out to find common ground
For the first time, instructors in the writing programs on UC campuses met this summer to work out a common program for pursing their mutual interests. Some 469 people teach in the programs statewide.
Librarians negotiate professional development and salary
Entry-level pay lower than at CSU and the community colleges
The University Council-AFT is negotiating with UC over two key articles of its contract covering librarians — salaries and professional development funds — says Axel Borg, distinguished wine and food science bibliographer at UC Davis. He sums up the common concerns between the union and the university as competitiveness, compression, and consistency.
Higher education should be free…and it’s within our reach
Candidates don’t go far enough; social movement needed to force issue
Bernie says higher education should be free. Hillary says students should be debt-free when they graduate. Bob Samuels, president of the University Council-AFT, welcomes this debate, but says neither Democratic presidential candidate goes far enough.
Why did the university refuse $25 million in state funding?
UC dependence on high out-of-state enrollment fees is promoting inequality
Top University of California administrators made headlines in August when they declined the offer by state legislators to provide the system an additional $25 million. The offer was contingent on the university accepting another 5000 in-state resident students.
Librarian masters digital tools for workplace and union
Carla Arbagey creates infographics to illustrate workload
UC Riverside librarian Carla Arbagey says, “Technology is like air to me.” It is essential in the library, where she integrates systems and tracks information on more than 3.4 million items. She is the winner of the 2014 Technology New Leader Award from the California Library Association, and a self-described “type-A personality” who likes things to be tidy, organized, and efficient.
UC Riverside instructor leads contract bargaining
A lot more than compensation is on the negotiating table
His voice may be a little hoarse and his cold is still hanging on, but Ben Harder is there for the start of bargaining. Harder leads the negotiating team of UC-AFT lecturers. Their contract expires June 30, and the talks started March 3.
New organizing chief embraces democracy campaign
“You See (UC) Democracy?”aims for systemwide change and a fully enfranchised faculty
Chris Hables Gray is widely known in academic circles for his research on the U.S. military post-World War II. The UC Santa Cruz lecturer has also written extensively about how technology is transforming humans.
University of California fails to solve campus funding inequities
Influx of non-resident tuition income outstrips new rebenching funds
Two years ago, the University of California system changed the way it distributes state funds and tuition revenue to the campuses. In the past, all tuition dollars and state dollars were sent to the Office of the President and redistributed according to unknown formulas.
UCLA professor leads mobilization of lecturers and librarians
UCLA professor leads mobilization of lecturers and librarians
Statewide campaign builds on established strength in campus locals
Goetz Wolff has taught at UCLA for more than 20 years, but was generally more involved with Southern California’s vibrant labor movement than with the union on his job. Wolff, for example, earned high praise for his six years as research director at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, but barely knew the ins and outs of the University Council-AFT.
Photographer brings the art of class struggle to wide audience
Previously censored works of San Diego professor Fred Lonidier in Whitney Biennial
Fred Lonidier’s artwork depicting the lives and struggles of maquiladora workers was banished from the Autonomous University of Baja California in 2005. This month artwork telling the story of that censorship will go up on the walls of New York’s prestigious Whitney Museum of American Art as part of its renowned Biennial exhibition.
Reference librarians meet complex queries with a human touch
Highly skilled professionals imperiled by administrative cost-cutting, online chat
“We no longer have a visible reference desk in our two main libraries,” reports Miki Goral, a UCLA librarian of 43 years. “Students first have to go to the circulation desk. If the student working there thinks they need to talk to a reference librarian, they often refer them to a 24/7 online chat, which is staffed by a UC librarian only during certain hours.
Tonkovich teaches and organizes with humor, joy and irony
UC Irvine lecturer and author credits mentors, and Ronald Reagan, for his activism
Q&A with Andrew Tonkovich