AFSCME workers strike despite court order

By Cynthia Lee

Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union (AFSCME) went out on strike systemwide Monday, July 14, despite a temporary restraining order that was issued Friday, July 11.

At UCLA, where approximately 380 strike-related absences were reported, campus officials said there was minimal to no impact on services on the first day of the weeklong strike.

UC officials' highlights of UC's offer:

Patient care employees: Wage increases of
more than 26% over the next five years, totaling
$127 million.

Service employees: Increases in minimum
hourly rates from $10.28 to $11.50 or $12
depending on location. If UC's offer is accepted,
increases for service employees would total
approximately 8% for the October 2007-
September 2008 year alone, given other
increases already provided.

Health benefits: UC would continue to pay the
vast majority of the cost of employees' health
benefits -- more than 93% for workers earning
$40,000 or less -- and employee premiums
would be based on a sliding scale so that lower
paid employees, like our service workers, pay
lower monthly premiums than other staff. UC's
proposals also limit the amount of employee
premium costs the university can implement
without bargaining.

Pension benefits: Employees would continue
to get UC's gold-standard pension benefits, which
they currently do not contribute toward the cost
of -- something virtually unheard of among U.S.
employers. UC has also stipulated that any
employee contributions will be negotiated with
AFSCME.

The union, which represents 11,000 UC patient care technical and 8,000 service employees systemwide, was enjoined from striking by a temporary restraining order issued by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Mahoney. However, every campus has reported AFSCME job action, except for UC Merced and UCOP, said Nicole Savickas, UC spokesperson, who said there were no firm numbers on how many workers participated systemwide. The union has called for members to strike through July 18.

About 2,225 of the AFSCME service workers and 3,200 of the patient care technical workers are employed at UCLA, primarily at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Housing and Hospitality Services and Transportation Services on the main campus. Among the service workers at UCLA are cooks, food service personnel, custodians, groundskeepers, campus shuttle drivers, along with custodial and housekeeping personnel at both hospitals in Westwood and Santa Monica.

In Transportation Services, only 10 out of roughly 90 AFSCME members did not report to work on Monday. "So far, there's been very little impact. The only area affected has been traffic control," said Renee Fortier, department director. UC police and two supervisors helped fill the gap. All shuttle buses continued to run on schedule.

A number of patient-care technical and service staff did not report to work at the UCLA Health System’s two hospitals in Westwood and Santa Monica, but the figure fell far short of the total number of UCLA workers represented by AFSCME, hospital officials said.

"Fortunately, the effect so far has not been substantial," said Associate Vice Chancellor J. Thomas Rosenthal, chief medical officer for UCLA Health System, and the strike has not affected the hospitals' ability to assure safe patient care. "We're particularly grateful that most of the patient-care technical workers have come to work, fulfilling their patient care responsibilities."

The technical workers, who range from respiratory to radiology and operating room technicians, have direct patient care responsibilities. These employees perform critical services and are often difficult to replace with outside help, Rosenthal explained. No services at the hospitals have been curtailed, hospital spokesperson Roxanne Moster said. The only impact may be that patients' food choices on the menus could be limited.

In UCLA Housing and Hospitality, 113 out of 270 workers who are AFSCME members reported to work. "Although we miss our team members, we're still running full service," said Assistant Vice Chancellor Peter Angelis, head of that department. The only impact was that dining facilities closed an hour early and some custodial services had to be modified.

Savickas said UC attorneys are weighing legal options. Mahoney had set a July 22 hearing for AFSCME to show cause why he should not issue a preliminary injunction barring the strike.

The court order was sought at the request of the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), the state agency for overseeing collective bargaining for public institutions like UC. The board recently issued a complaint against AFSCME for bad-faith bargaining in its negotiations with UC on new contracts for patient care and service employees, for failing to give adequate notice of a planned strike and for encouraging employees to participate in a strike against UC facilities even though members' absence from work would clearly endanger the public's safety.

"The strike is clearly and unequivocably illegal," said Rosenthal.

But union leaders countered that the court order only states that AFSCME could not strike until it provides UC with adequate notice of the exact dates of the strike, which it has done, they said. Furthermore, the union plans to fight the injunction as an "unlawful denial of our Constitutional and statutory right to strike," according to a statement.

"We are disappointed that union leadership would continue to encourage their members to strike, despite a court order declaring such a strike a threat to public safety," said David Feinberg, CEO of the UCLA Medical Center. "Regardless, we believe that our employees are dedicated workers who care about the patients entrusted to their care — and care about upholding the law — and we expect that they will report to work as scheduled."

"Hopefully, the court's ruling and the recent complaint against the union by the Public Employment Relations Board will motivate the union to refocus its attention on settling these negotiations," said Howard Pripas, UC executive director of labor relations. "Our proposals are fair and responsive to many of the union’s expressed concerns, and our employees deserve to have these negotiations resolved."

"More importantly," Pripas added, "we regret that we have not been able to reach an agreement with the union and hope its leadership will return to the bargaining table so we can continue our discussions. Our employees deserve good contracts and they deserve them now. Our offers would result in wage increases worth well over $125 million and good benefits."

For more information about the negotiations, see:

UC Patient Care Techs

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