ECONOMIC GAINS
Wages - Academic Student Employees (ASEs) will receive a 5% wage increase effective October 1, 2007. ASEs will receive up to a 5% wage increase effective October 1, 2008 (the last year of the contract) depending on the level that at which the state legislature funds the UC’s Compact With the Governor, with a minimum guarantee of a 1.5% pay increase. Additionally, tutors at Berkeley, Davis and Riverside will have their minimum wage increased to $12 per hour on October 1, 2007.
Fee Remissions - Not only did we fend off the Administration’s proposed cuts to the fee remission program, but undergraduate TAs will now receive the same fee remission benefit as their graduate TA colleagues. Additionally, the administration and the union have agreed to form a joint committee to investigate ways to provide a Non-Resident Tuition Waiver to all ASEs.
Summer session compensation - Summer session ASEs will at a minimum be compensated at the same rate as they are during the academic year. Coupled with the 5% wage increase that takes effect October 1, 2007, summer session employees in 2008 on most campuses will receive a 12% wage increase.
Health benefits - We fended off the administrations proposed cuts to the health insurance premium remission program. Dental and vision benefits will be expanded to every campus by the start of Academic Year 2008-2009. Additionally, the administration and the union will form a joint committee to explore a systemwide healthcare plan for ASEs. In particular,
this committee will explore a range of topics, including:
1. Providing care for gender confirmation services and related care
2. Healthcare for ASEs’ dependents, spouses and domestic partners
3. Expanded mental health services
4. Expanded prescription drug coverage and Health Care Reimbursement Accounts.
Tutor no-shows - All tutors will be paid in full for the entirety of any pre-scheduled timeslot regardless of whether or not a student shows up at the designated time for their tutoring session.
Sick leave (see section on family friendly policies for a fuller treatment of leaves) - Salaried ASEs appointed at 50% time shall receive two days of paid short-term family-related leave per quarter or three days per semester which can be used for illness, disability or family emergency (the number of days of leave for which an ASE is eligible is prorated for percentage appointments other than 50%).
NON-DISCRIMINATION
We secured a prohibition against discrimination on the basis of pregnancy.
We secured a historic prohibition against discrimination on the basis of an ASE’s gender identity. Gender identity in this context means a gender-related identity, self-image, appearance, expression, or behavior of an individual, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, whether actual or perceived, and with or without regard to the sex designated or assigned to the individual at birth.
FAMILY-FRIENDLY BENEFITS
Childcare subsidy - Registered students with at least a 25% appointment can get up to $300 per quarter or $450 per semester in reimbursements for the care of non-school age children effective July 1, 2008.
Leaves - The new contract guarantees one of the most comprehensive packages of paid leaves available to any group of ASEs in the nation. Salaried ASEs appointed at 50% time shall receive two days of paid short-term family-related leave per quarter or three days per semester (the number of days of leave for which an ASE is eligible is prorated for percentage appointments other than 50%) which can be used for illness, disability or family emergency. Salaried ASEs are also eligible for paid long-term leave up to four weeks. Up to four weeks of paid leave can be used for childbearing or up to two weeks for serious illness of an ASE or an ASE’s family member or to care for and bond with an ASE’s newborn or newly adopted child. Unused short-term leaves may be added onto long-term leaves where necessary to increase the amount of time that an ASE may be on leave. Bereavement leave shall also be paid for up to three days per occurrence.
WORKLOAD PROTECTIONS
Arbitrable workload disputes - The final say in any workload dispute will be in the hands of a neutral third-party—not a panel of university professors. In addition, the workload grievance process is an expedited process which will allow problems arising within a term to be resolved in a timely manner.
If any ASE is working in excess of the hours they are being paid for, they will either have their workload reduced to match their percentage appointment or have their percentage appointment adjusted upwards to reflect the hours of work they are performing. What this means is that if an ASE is being overworked, he or she will either have to be paid more or assigned less work.
Protections against ballooning class, section and lab sizes - Going forward, the union will receive regular reports from the university on class, section and lab size which will enable us to get out in front of any workload issues deriving from excess class size as well as to monitor TA-student ratios in order to keep the UC accountable to the highest educational standards. Additionally, ASEs will be notified in their Supplemental Documentation of any existing class, lab or section size policy for their hiring department. This will allow ASEs to help ensure educational quality by monitoring whether UC is being consistent with its own policies on class size. Finally, UC will begin publishing the number of students enrolled in every class, section and lab assigned to an ASE. This will allow ASEs to monitor class size patterns across courses in their departments, campuses and the state.
8-Hour Day - ASEs may no longer be assigned to work more than 8 hours in one day.
UNION RIGHTS
No strikes - we fended off the University’s efforts to take away individual ASEs’ right to stand in solidarity with other unionized workers.
We won the cutting-edge right to have membership dues and other pertinent information processed electronically by UC. This new right will save the union countless time and resources in processing basic information with UC.
EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS and TRANSPARENCY
Posting - All known hiring policies and ASE job allocation procedures will now be posted on the internet. This will enable ASEs to know how departments hire employees in advance so that they can maximize the likelihood of getting a job, and it will also make the hiring process more transparent and less susceptible to arbitrary decision-making and favoritism.
Employment Files and Evaluations - ASEs will be notified of any material added to their employment files once per term.
Appointment notification - All ASEs will now receive a standardized document detailing their job duties. This will enable ASEs to better understand what duties they are being asked to perform and predict how much time to budget for them. ASEs will now generally receive 30 days notice in advance of summer teaching appointments.
As for the ratification process, here are the meetings and voting stations for UCD:
MEETING: Tuesday, October 9th from 10 to 11 AM at the Memorial Union, room TBA. Please
contact the campus office with questions.
VOTING:
Tuesday, October 9th
10 AM to 4 PM outside of the Memorial Union by the Quad.
6 to 8 PM at Orchard Park
Wednesday, October 10th
10 AM to 4 PM outside of the Memorial Union by the Quad.
6 to 8 PM at Orchard Park
Thursday, October 11th
10 AM to 4 PM outside of the Memorial Union by the Quad.
6 to 8 PM at Orchard Park
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