UC Workers Rally, Win Promise of Meeting with Chancellor (Berkeley)

[struggle4progress]

A noon rally of angry UC Berkeley workers in front of California Hall last Friday had a surprise result—a chance sidewalk encounter between union leaders and Chancellor Robert Birgenau in which Birgenau agreed to a formal, fact-finding meeting with worker representatives.

The Coalition of University Employees (CUE, clerical workers), University Professional and Technical Workers (UPTE), and the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME, service workers) called the joint rally to protest what it called the university’s “stalling” on contract negotiations with the three unions.

A CUE representative said that the union’s representatives are still negotiating the 2003-04 contract, and have filed unfair labor practices charges against the university over its tactics in negotiating the still-unsigned 2004-05 contract.

Birgenau did not attend the rally but happened up just as it was ending on his way to another meeting at California Hall. He spoke for about 10 minutes to a semi-circle of union leaders and rally participants until he was hustled away to his meeting by a security officer. He fielded questions and asked some of his own about pay and working conditions for UC Berkeley support workers, and eventually agreed to a meeting after union representatives told him “your people are badly misinforming you about the facts.” <snip>

http://www.berkeleydaily.org/text/article.cfm?issue=04-05-05&storyID=21088