SEVEN-YEAR STRUGGLE
Regents back staff seat
by cynthia lee
ucla today staff
After seven years of asking for a seat at the UC Board of Regents’
table alongside student and faculty representatives, UC staff came
one step closer to getting an invitation to join.
A majority of regents on the Committee on Finance meeting July
14 in San Francisco asked President Robert C. Dynes and his staff
to come back in two months with proposals outlining how a representative
of all staff — regardless of whether they are represented
by a bargaining unit or not — might be selected. Such a staff
representative would participate as a non-voting adviser within
the parameters of the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations
Act. The act prohibits direct dealing between management and employees
exclusively represented by a bargaining unit.
“This was a major milestone in the history of both staff
and the Board of Regents,” said David Miller, chair of the
Council of UC Staff Assemblies (CUCSA), the systemwide staff organization
that has called for the appointment of a staff representative. Miller
is client services manager with UCLA Communications Technology Services
and former president of the UCLA Staff Assembly. “It is important
that the regents appreciate and acknowledge the significant contributions
made by staff daily to ensure the quality and success of the university,”
he said. Miller’s colleague, David Bell, CUCSA chair last
year, acknowledged that there are challenges to overcome. “This
board has cleared far greater obstacles in the interest of making
the university a stronger, more representative community where every
constituency has a voice,” Bell told the regents.
While staff make up the second largest active, systemwide constituency
after students, “we have the softest voice,” Bell said.
The regents, who have benefited from the perspectives of student
regents and faculty representatives seated at the table, would gain
even more by hearing from staff, he said. CUCSA is not seeking a
specific role in the selection process, “and has no unyielding
interest in securing this position for one of its own,” Bell
clarified.
Regent David Lee said he didn’t believe staff needed to
communicate with the board when other access is available. “If
anybody wants to see the president, I assume his doors are open.
... If a manager’s door is not open, or the chancellor’s
door is not open, then let’s solve that.”
But Regent Sherry Lansing summed up the consensus opinion: “What
I’m sensing from all of this is that we do very, very much
want to have a staff representative at the table as a non-voting
member.”
|
