UCLA Faculty Association Condemns UC Sidestepping Labor Board, Ongoing Rights Violations on Campus 

Last week, the University of California (UC) circumvented acceptable labor dispute practices to pause the UAW 4811 unfair labor practice (ULP) strike. The strike was twice allowed to proceed by the Public Employee Relations Board (PERB), the labor body which will ultimately determine the strike’s legality. This extreme approach by the UC is deeply concerning because it undermines labor laws and the right of PERB to adjudicate labor disputes. We should all be concerned when our administration sidesteps best processes and “venue shops” until they find a court likely to decide in their favor. Such repressive, anti-labor tactics are typical of corporations like Starbucks and Amazon, and are shocking from an educational institution claiming to serve the public good.

Repression, Faculty Rights, and Labor

The decision to halt the strike through dubious means unfortunately reflects a broader pattern of repressing speech and labor rights at the UC in recent weeks. Aside from the ULP filed by UAW which led to the union’s strike authorization, UC-AFT, AFSCME, and the UCLA Faculty Association (UCLA-FA) have all filed separate ULPs calling attention to how the university’s heavy-handed response to pro-Palestinian speech, and in particular the Palestine Solidarity Encampment, has spiraled into endangering rights integral to labor at the UC as a whole.

In particular, UCLA-FA’s ULP charges the UC with interfering with faculty’s protected right to advocate and organize regarding matters that impact their workplace– including the safety of students, graduate workers, faculty colleagues, and staff who are exercising their right to free speech.

The ULP further charges that UCOP and UCLA unlawfully interfered with protected rights by adopting overbroad rules in the aftermath of the attacks and police sweep, particularly by: 1) closing campus activities and staffing the university with dozens of security guards between May 6 and May 10, and 2) issuing an overbroad gag rule prohibiting faculty from discussing the UAW strike or any union-related matter with any employee or student on May 16. The full text of the current ULP charge can be found on our website. The UCLA-FA is continuing to document the ongoing erasure of faculty rights on our campus and will assess a potential expansion of the existing Unfair Labor Practice charges.  

As UCLAFA Chair Siobhan Braybrook  notes, “Faculty have the right to advocate for changes to their working conditions and against unilateral changes to their work process; they have the right to speak out against injustice on their campus; and they should be secure in knowing that their classrooms are not being turned into jail cells.”  FA member Bharat Venkat says, “The UC’s actions have materially changed our working conditions, as well as those of our AFT, UAW, and AFSCME colleagues. They have made unilateral decisions that are out of alignment with the principles of democracy and shared governance that have long governed UC. Faculty are noticing and are ready to take action.”

Though the UC has paused the strike by sidestepping the labor board, it is not clear what this will mean for labor already withheld that is integral to calculating final grades. 

Faculty should not clean up after the UC

The UC has done nothing to indicate whether faculty will be asked to “pick up the slack,” unilaterally expanding our work duties yet again. Senate faculty have a right under HEERA to not pick up any extra work, and themselves have the right to withhold their labor in protest of recent workplace disruptions. The UCLA-FA is here to help you protect these rights. 

In refusing to negotiate with students and workers about their workplace demands, as other schools did, UCLA has made a mess. Faculty should not clean up after the UC.

Instead of bargaining in good faith in its multiple unfair labor practice charges, the UC has  chosen to employ yet another newly-opened administrative office to lecture community members about safety. AVC Braziel’s email regarding Monday night’s events highlights the disconnect between the administration and the UCLA community. Braziel’s email is a sleight of hand. It absolves the university of its responsibility in escalating this situation. Speaking of Monday night, he said little of multiple students and grad workers sent to the hospital with severe injuries, the use of less-lethal ammunition (against police department guidelines), or the use of kettling, a practice in which police order dispersal but simultaneously prevent protestors from dispersing in order to create a pretext for arrest. It also failed to discuss what the students set out to do –  read the names of all 43,000 human beings killed in Gaza – before dispersing.

This is not the first instance of police violence at UCLA; we would like it to be the last. Sadly, at an institution that increasingly prioritizes funding new administrative offices and expanding security forces over resources for teaching, learning, and research, this is unlikely to be the case. The ongoing securitization of our campus combined with the rapid engagement of riot cops during public demonstration sends a clear message to faculty: your employer sets the limit for what you can protest and who you can freely associate with. We reject this limit.

Join us on Wednesday

On Wednesday, Jun 12, UAW will hold a rally at 11am in front of the Luskin Conference Center. UC-AFT will speak with regards to faculty rights, the TRO, and their unfair labor practice charge. UCLA-FA members will be present in the audience. We invite members of faculty to listen to the two unions that represent our community, and to come speak with us in person. We have a better UC to win.

What to do when grades come due? CUCFA Virtual Town Hall, Fri 7/7 @ noon

Many UCLA faculty are teaching courses with TAs who are on strike, and therefore striking TAs may not be grading final assignments and exams. What does this mean for us as faculty? What does it mean for our undergraduates, their courses, and their final grades? 

The UCLA Faculty Association invites all UCLA faculty to participate in a Virtual Town Hall Meeting this Friday, June 7 from 12-1PM hosted by CUCFA (Council of UC Faculty Associations). This meeting is intended to be an opportunity for faculty to think through and share the policies that have been devised by other faculty at various UC campuses. 

To make the best use of the time during the session, UCLA-FA will be collecting your questions, and forwarding them to CUCFA. Please fill out this form in advance with any questions or concerns you may have:

https://forms.gle/VuY2LsyWnzjgB8rA6

You will receive a Zoom link to the Town Hall after submitting the form.

Faculty Association members make resources like this possible.
Join UCLA-FA to make sure we can continue to offer these opportunities.

UCLA-FA files Unfair Labor Practices charge against UC

LOS ANGELES, CA (June 5, 2024) – On June 3rd, the UCLA Faculty Association (UCLAFA) filed unfair labor practice (ULP) charges against the University of California (UC) to vindicate faculty rights to protest, organize, and exercise academic freedom. The ULP charges the UC for UCLA’s failure to uphold, and their choice to interfere with, faculty’s legally protected rights during and after the recent UCLA Palestine Solidarity Encampment. This is the fourth organization to file a ULP against the UC in the wake of its actions at UCLA in late April and early May, following charges by UAW, UC-AFT and AFSCME.

The UCLAFA is a voluntary, dues-supported employee organization that represents UCLA faculty on employment and academic freedom issues. It is independent of the University and complementary to the Academic Senate, which engages in shared governance on academic matters. In the ULP charge filed on June 3, UCLAFA details two primary ways in which UCLA interfered with its members’ rights under the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA).

First, UCLA engaged in interference and discrimination by: 1) allowing anti-Palestinian counter-protesters to assault both UCLAFA members and other faculty, alongside our students, and 2) calling on law enforcement to forcibly remove and arrest them between April 30 and May 1. In doing so, UCLA interfered with faculty’s protected right to advocate and organize regarding matters that impact their workplace– including the safety of students, graduate workers, faculty colleagues, and staff who are exercising their right to protest.

Like our students, faculty were brutalized and arrested, in violation of the UC’s own policies of de-escalation and minimal police response to protests. UCLA’s conduct discourages Faculty members from engaging in strikes, pickets, and other activity protected by HEERA, for fear of further violent repression at the University’s behest. This has been further underscored by UC’s newly announced policy of pursuing its own internal discipline against anyone the UC itself chose to have arrested or cited.  

Second, UCLA unlawfully interfered with faculty members’ exercise of their protected rights, including the right to academic freedom, by adopting overbroad rules in the aftermath of the attacks and police sweep. On May 16, for example, the university issued an overbroad gag rule prohibiting faculty from discussing the UAW strike or any union-related matter with any employee or student, essentially banning any possibility of engaging these important events as a “teaching moment,” or allowing faculty to provide emotional or intellectual support to struggling students. It also overreached by closing campus activities and staffing the university with dozens of security guards between May 6 and May 10. In doing so, UCLA interfered with employee rights and chilled academic freedom, faculty association, and the right to protest university policies.

The University should be ordered to cease and desist from its unlawful conduct, including interfering with employee rights, discriminating against employees, and arresting faculty for engaging in protected activity. The University should also be ordered to rescind its unlawful rules and policies, and refrain from disciplining or taking any other adverse action against UCLAFA members; any discipline underway should be rescinded and removed from faculty personnel files. The Faculty Association also urges the withdrawal of ongoing and future disciplinary actions against all members of the UCLA Community, including students and staff.

Faculty association executive committee member Anna Markowitz notes, “This ULP is faculty speaking out. What the UC did violated our students’ rights, and it violated ours in tandem. There is no world in which faculty can speak freely if our students cannot do the same. We see that, and we stand in solidarity with UAW, AFT, and AFSCME in demanding redress for the wrong decisions that UC made.” 

Meet us on Wednesday, Jun 5 at 3pm at Murphy Hall for a discussion of our ULP charge, held in conjunction with a UAW 4811 rally.

Help defend faculty rights by joining the UCLA Faculty Association.

For up to date communications, follow us on social media

The full text of the ULP charge can be found below. For press inquiries, contact our Communications Committee at comms@uclafa.org

Know Your Rights: Faculty and the UAW Strike

As many of you are aware, UC graduate students and academic workers belonging to United Auto Workers Local 4811 have voted to authorize a strike in the wake of vigilante and police violence against UCLA students, staff, and faculty on April 30 and May 2.

The UAW is striking over alleged UC unfair labor practices (ULPs) in violation of HEERA. A strike over severe ULPs is protected by the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA) even when there is a general no-strike clause in the union’s contract. It is the Public Employee Relations Board (PERB), not the UC, that would determine the legality of the strike.

The UAW 4811 strike demands include protection of free speech and political expression on campus; amnesty for all academic employees, students, faculty, and staff due to protests; UC disclosure of all funding sources and investments; and UC divestment from weapons manufacturers. The union is also demanding that researchers have the ability to opt out of sources of funding with ties to the military or to oppression of Palestinians.

The UCLA Faculty Association wants to share guidance with faculty so you are aware of your rights. Below are some FAQs:

1.    Can I respect a picket line? Will I be protected?
YES. Senate faculty are protected by the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA) (see Govt Code Section 3562e).

2.    If I respect the picket line, will it help anything at all?
YES. Senate faculty can help strengthen the strike if they respect the picket line. They can also accelerate resolution of the strike by putting pressure on administration to negotiate with the union.

3.    If I chair a department or head a program, can I respect picket lines?
YES. Senate faculty, including department chairs and program heads CAN respect picket lines as they are protected by the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA) (see Govt Code Section 3580.3).

4.    Will I violate the Faculty Code of Conduct if I respect a picket line?
NO. The Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA) does not understand the Faculty Code of Conduct as prohibiting conduct protected under HEERA, including respecting a picket line. The Faculty Code of Conduct recognizes the constitutionally protected rights of Senate faculty to freedom of expression.

5.    Should I perform the labor of those academic workers (postdocs, researchers, TAs, GSIs) who go on strike, such as teaching their classes or sections?
NO. Under HEERA, senate faculty can DECLINE to perform struck work that is outside our customary duties. Performing struck labor undermines faculty welfare, as it requires that we give up our own legal protections and suggests to both students and the administration that we can continue to do our jobs without the labor of striking workers. It also ultimately undermines our undergraduates who benefit from having TAs who are assured safe environments to work.

6.    Should I ask my lecturer and adjunct colleagues to do the work of striking TAs?
NO. Non-Senate and contingent faculty have the SAME rights as senate faculty to DECLINE to perform struck labor.

7.    Is it true that faculty currently working with TAs or GSRs cannot honor the picket line because they are supervisors?
NO. Senate faculty do not become “supervisory employees,” a legal term of art under HEERA, by virtue of supervising GSRs and GSIs as part of faculty teaching and research duties; as a result, faculty retain full HEERA rights. For a more detailed explanation, see this memo by several UC labor law scholars.” When faculty do exercise some supervisory authority, they must not interfere with or retaliate for GSRs’ and GSIs’ exercise of their own HEERA rights, including the right to strike or not strike.”

8.    Should I include lecturers’ decisions about respecting a picket line or performing struck work when considering them for reappointment?
NO. That would constitute UNLAWFUL retaliation and would VIOLATE both HEERA and the UC-AFT Unit 18 faculty collective bargaining agreement.

For further guidance, please consult the recent (May 13 2024) CUCFA FAQs here.

If you feel confused or intimidated by the administration’s statements about UAW’s strike, or want further information, please contact or join the UCLA Faculty Association to learn more about your rights.

Faculty statements on campus protest crackdown

We will update this page as more statements come in…

Departmental Statements

Chicana/o and Central American Studies Faculty Statement

Asian American Studies Department Solidarity Statement

Statement of Members of the Department of History in Response to Clearing the Encampment, 2 May 2024

Statement of Members of the Department of Classics on the University’s Failure to Protect Student Protestors

Statement by Members of the Department of English, Comparative Literature, and Writing Programs in response to the forcible removal of the Student Encampment 

Statement of Members of the UCLA Department of History Faculty in Response to the Attack on the Encampment on 30 April 2024

Faculty associations address UCOP

The UCLA Faculty Association is part of a UC-wide coalition of faculty associations known as CUCFA–the Coalition of UC Faculty Associations. Through CUCFA, UC faculty are able to address the UC Office of the President on issues of importance to faculty, their students, and staff. Below is a round-up of recent communication between CUCFA and UCOP.

UC Union Coalition on Health Insurance Costs

CUCFA signed on to a joint letter from unions representing employees across the UC system expressing concern with large increases in the cost of health insurance. The unions requested a meeting to “address what appears to be a conflict of interest in how it negotiated the 2024 rate increases with the providers in its own system. Given that two of the major plans available to UC employees are based on the UC hospital system and professional medical groups, UCOP should have invited a third party to participate in the negotiations over the plan cost increases.”

Opposing Proposed Website Policy

Faculty addressed the UC Regents proposed new policy limiting statements on departmental websites: “At a time when free speech and academic freedom are under threat on many campuses, the proposed policy is recklessly ambiguous. The Regents are still debating whether the new policy will apply to all websites or solely to the landing pages of department websites, and that is a huge policy difference. In failing to adequately define what constitutes a political statement, it runs the risk of serious overreach and abuse. This is all the more alarming as the policy does not specify who is responsible for its enforcement: which university office or position will be responsible for policing the policy?”

Support for Math Standards in UC Admissions, Shared Governance

Addressing the Regents proposal to change math standards for admission, CUCFA wrote: “We are alarmed that the Regents have recently chosen to ignore the recommendations of the Academic Council and its systemwide Senate committees on a number of key issues. The centrality of faculty governance to the University of California is critical to maintaining its international reputation for excellence and recruiting the best scholars and teachers. It is especially concerning that the Regents have overruled their own faculty in educational matters–like admission standards, curricula questions, and academic freedom–over which faculty have greater expertise. While we consider harmful all the examples of the Regents’ interference in Senate faculty’s delegated authority and the principles of shared governance, here we are writing to address the most recent instance of the Regents substituting their wishes for the expertise of the faculty.”

Post-strike grading

The UAW strike is over, but considerable fall quarter grading remains unfinished. Senate and Unit-18 faculty are not obliged and cannot be compelled to complete grading that was assigned to readers and graduate student instructors during the fall quarter. The university can hire readers and teaching assistants (including those employed during the fall) to complete the grading with appropriate compensation. Leaders of UC Faculty Associations, UC-AFT, and UAW issued a letter to UCOP Labor Relations calling for central funding of the extra costs associated with completing fall grading. You can read the letter here and below:

January 4, 2023

Letitia Silas
Executive Director, Labor Relations
UC Office of the President
1111 Franklin Street
Oakland, CA 94607

CC: President Michael V. Drake

Delivered via Email to: Letitia.Silas@ucop.edu

Dear Labor Relations Executive Director Silas,

We write collectively as representatives of UAW 2865, UC-AFT, CUCFA, and SCFA. Due to the UAW’s strike over UC’s unfair labor practices during contract negotiations, a significant amount of the labor required to complete Fall 2022 grade submission remains outstanding.

The workers represented by our unions and associations understand their rights and protections. Senate faculty members and lecturers have no obligation to volunteer to pick up labor struck by ASEs employed in their classes. Readers and teaching assistants in UAW 2865 enjoyed legal protections during their strike, and their appointments for the Fall Quarter terminated on December 31 at the latest while the strike was active.

Should the University require additional labor for submitting any Fall 2022 grades, it can hire readers (including those who previously served as TAs for the class) under the terms of the new contract and/or hire lecturers at a rate set by negotiation between UC-AFT and the university administration. Further, given that departments were not responsible for the strike’s duration and/or resolution, we also expect this labor to be centrally funded. Finally, we ask that the administration communicate a process for accessing these funds as soon as possible so that course sponsoring agencies can hire replacement workers and instructors are not pressured to take on labor beyond their customary duties.

We are willing to meet to discuss this matter further.

Yours,

Rafael Jaime, UAW 2865 President
Katie Rodger, UC-AFT President
Constance Penley, CUCFA President
Jessica Taft, SCFA Co-Chair

FAQs Part Three: More Q’s About Grading

This is the third in a series of CUCFA’s FAQ’s about the UAW strike. The first set of FAQs is available here. The second set is available here.

Q1: Who will be responsible for the grading when the strike is resolved?

A1: If a settlement is reached before the end of the current quarter/semester, your existing ASE may be able to complete the grading, but only if it fits within their contractual workload limits. If a resolution is not reached until the next quarter/semester, an agreement about grading may be part of the settlement between UC and UAW. If not, then departments will need to hire ASEs on new contracts to complete that work. CUCFA advocates for this additional labor to be centrally funded rather than a departmental responsibility.

Q2: Can I submit P/NP grades on campuses where that option exists for students and where they had done enough to pass the class before the strike started without picking up struck work?

A2: The option to provide P/NP grades on some campuses does not alter the fact that the calculation of a passing grade is ordinarily work performed by ASEs, so it remains struck work.

Q3: If all the labor of calculating grades was already completed before the strike, or my ASE was not on strike and has graded all work, should I submit grades?

A3: In this case, you should submit grades unless you have chosen to honor the picket line and withhold your labor from the university.

Q4: Can I volunteer to perform some of my ASE’s grading work for students with exceptional circumstances and still maintain my HEERA protections?

A4: Faculty who are refusing to perform struck work could volunteer to do some small amount of struck work to provide grades to individuals with exceptional circumstances. This should be done sparingly and may not be necessary, as many campuses have made contingency plans for impacted students.

Q5. How should faculty handle grades for graduate courses numbered 299 or 500?

A5. Faculty should exercise caution with course numbers like 299 and 500, where the sole purpose of enrolling in those courses is to work as a Graduate Student Researcher (represented by SRU) or Teaching Assistant (a position represented in the ASE unit). Communications that “interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed under HEERA,” including the right to strike, violate Section 3571(a) of HEERA. UAW has already filed unfair labor practice charges for this kind of action. Their lawyers have sent a “cease and desist” letter to UC labor relations and labor relations offices on each campus. Although faculty are generally unlikely to be found supervisory or managerial employees under HEERA, they can still exercise institutional authority or take adverse actions against UAW members, and faculty should ensure that their actions are not construed as interfering with or discriminating against employees for the exercise of protected rights. Additionally an “unsatisfactory” grade in one of these courses could not only be construed as retaliation, but it could also put grads in “poor academic standing,” which can lead to loss of health insurance or visas.

Response to message from Provost and EVP of Academic Affairs Michael Brown

Dear Colleagues,

On Thursday, December 1, Senate faculty received a potentially misleading email from the President’s Office of the University of California, titled “Regarding Faculty Rights and Responsibilities,” and signed by Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs Michael Brown.

This communication fails to distinguish between being on strike and declining to pick up struck labor. It is the case that the university may dock pay for any faculty on strike, although it is unclear precisely how they would enforce that policy. Faculty pay can only be docked for the period during which they choose to strike, not for the duration of the multi-unit strike itself. While a partial strike by faculty can be unprotected, it is unclear what mechanism of reporting or tracking the University is using to determine whether faculty are continuing to engage in non-instructional labor, such as their own research. Similarly, it is also not apparent what mechanism of reporting would be used to discipline those they believed have violated the Faculty Code of Conduct by engaging in the unprotected activity of a partial strike if they had continued non-instructional labor whether for university service or their own research.

The vast majority of faculty have not been on strike; they have continued to teach their classes and to support the strike in other ways. However, UC is now asking Senate faculty to take up the struck labor of their ASEs on strike. Struck labor would include returning grades for classes with ASEs where ASEs are responsible for grading and/or grade submission. Refusing to do this additional labor, for no further compensation, does not represent being on strike. Refusing to pick up the struck labor of ASE grading is not the same as a sympathy strike, and so the issue of “all or nothing,” or “whole” or “partial” striking is irrelevant. Faculty have the HEERA-protected right not to take up this struck labor if they choose not to do so. And their pay cannot be docked for not picking up struck labor. If you choose not to pick up the struck labor of ASE grading, please register that here in this anonymous tally.

Senate faculty are being told that if they do not pick up the struck work of ASE grading some undergraduate students will be harmed. We share the concern for students that depend on their grades to access financial aid, to earn scholarships, and who need their grades for other reasons. However, it is the university’s responsibility to make contingency plans that ensure these students are not impacted by the strike, and some campuses have already communicated to undergraduates that such plans are in place. They have the capacity, as they did during the pandemic, to be flexible about grades and deadlines.

We urge all Senate faculty to support the multi-unit strike by graduate students, postdocs and student researchers. Low paid work and uncompetitive wages damage the capacity of the university to deliver world class teaching and research. You have HEERA protected legal rights to go on strike, and yet it is critical not to confuse that with your right to refuse to take up the additional struck labor of grading.

CUCFA Message on Picking up Struck Work

Dear colleagues,

We have entered the second week of the UAW multi-unit strike. CUCFA is inspired by our fellow academic workers represented by UAW, who are fighting to create a UC where everyone can live with dignity in the place they work. We reaffirm our message to President Drake sent on November 11, 2022, with over 1,400 Senate faculty signatures, that urged him to direct his staff to engage in good faith bargaining. We join 100 UC departments, programs, and committees that publicly expressed their support for striking academic workers. They have written letters of solidarity, with some committing not to perform work that the striking workers would normally do.  Groups of faculty have also organized a sign-on letter directed to state leaders and a pledge by faculty who are exercising their right to respect the UAW picket.

The strike has prompted many conversations among Senate faculty members about our rights and responsibilities. At UCLA, the Academic Senate has issued guidance reiterating that faculty are not expected to take on additional labor if they choose not to, and that graduate student workers must not face retaliation for striking. UC faculty with expertise in labor law have also produced a detailed legal memo that explains the HEERA category of “supervisory employee” and reaffirms UC Senate faculty members’ right to respect the UAW picket. CUCFA’s FAQ and one issued by an autonomous faculty organizing group further articulate Senate faculty rights and responsibilities during the strike. The new CUCFA FAQ specifically addresses questions related to grades and grading.

This message and the updated CUCFA FAQ come in response to several notes Senate faculty across the system sent to info@cucfa.org that report being encouraged to take on additional labor to make up for the missing work of ASEs – for example, being asked to proctor exams and help with grading if they are not currently teaching. CUCFA is extremely concerned that such requests, issued under titles such as “Instructional Guidelines for Educational Continuity,” harm faculty interests. These requests increase the instructional workload of already overtaxed and exhausted faculty and ask us to give up our HEERA-protected right not to volunteer to take up struck labor. Further, taking on these tasks would undermine the strike’s impact and falsely communicate to both students and the administration that we can continue to do our jobs without the labor of striking workers.

As stated in the grades/grading FAQ Q1, if you receive one of these messages that suggests you take on additional labor, you can respond by declining the extra work and communicating that you do not wish to volunteer to take up the struck labor. If your department chair or Dean insists that you must perform the additional struck work, you have the right under HEERA to refuse. If you do not feel comfortable doing so, you can state that you are performing the work under protest. You should document all new duties, dates, and time required to perform the work, any agreement on mitigation of the increase in work, how you will be compensated for this increase, and any objections you have, including your physical and mental ability to complete the work. A template response for this email is below. Additionally, you can cc info@cucfa.org or contact your campus Faculty Association, and we can facilitate communication with the appropriate Academic Senate committee or office on your campus.

We recognize that these kinds of administrative requests will disproportionately impact faculty who are untenured or otherwise marginalized in their departments by placing informal pressures on them to cooperate even if they wish to act in solidarity with striking workers by not diminishing the impact of their absence from work. We therefore encourage tenured faculty to exercise their privilege and take the lead by issuing collective statements affirming the rights of UAW strikers and of faculty wishing to respect the picket line and/or not take up struck labor.

CUCFA will be working with campus Faculty Associations to strategize with faculty across departments and academic divisions about how they can feel more empowered to exercise their HEERA-protected rights. Please be on the lookout for this announcement. We invite signatories of the original CUCFA solidarity statement to help us in this outreach. If you would like to help facilitate these conversations in your department, on your campus, or at the statewide level, please reach out to us at info@cucfa.org.

Email template – feel free to modify to your specific circumstances

Dear X,

I am writing in response to your guidance that faculty members facilitate instructional continuity during the strike. I would like to inform you that I am exercising my HEERA-protected right not to  volunteer to perform struck work tied to ASE’s Description of Duties. If this guidance is a directive rather than a suggestion, and you are requiring me to perform this work under discipline or other threat of adverse consequences, I want to register my objection to doing so and state that I understand this to be an unfair labor practice. If this is a directive, please inform me of my new duties, and the dates during which you expect me to perform them. I would also like to know what mitigation measures are available to offset the increase in work and how I will be compensated for this additional labor.

Thank you,