News

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Know Your Rights: Faculty and the UAW Strike

Byadmin

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…

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Faculty statements on campus protest crackdown

Byhigbie

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…

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Faculty associations address UCOP

Byhigbie

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…

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Post-strike grading

Byhigbie

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…

FAQs Part Three: More Q’s About Grading

Bycucfastaff

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,…

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

Bycucfastaff

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…

CUCFA Message on Picking up Struck Work

Bycucfastaff

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…

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Sign On to the Faculty Association Statement Regarding Possible Strike by UAW 2865, UAW 5810 and SRY-UAW

Byadmin

Please consider signing on to the Faculty Association Statement Regarding Possible Strike by UAW 2865, UAW 5810 and SRY-UAW: Graduate students, postdocs, and other academic student employees are essential to the teaching and research mission of the University of California, especially as undergraduate enrollments rise. Given the escalating costs of living in California, 48,000 people in the UC system represented by three unions–UAW 2865, UAW 5810, and SRU-UAW–are coordinating their fight for living wages, affordable UC housing, greater support for working parents, sustainable transit benefits, equity for international scholars, and other improvements that would strengthen teaching and research across the…

Learn More About Your AFT Benefits

Byadmin

The AAUP’s recent affiliation with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) means that together, they now represent more US higher education workers than any other union. The affiliation also means that in addition to being an AAUP member, UCLA-FA members that choose to add AAUP membership are now AFT members as well, with access to a number of new resources and benefits, including counseling, traveling, educational, and insurance programs. The AAUP will be hosting a webinar on October 18 at 4 pm ET/1 pm PT where staff from the AFT membership team will walk members through the benefit program. Register…

2022 Bulletin of the American Association of University Professors

Byadmin

The AAUP’s annual Bulletin collects in one place the reports, policy statements, and official AAUP business materials of an academic year—in this case, 2021–22. Most of these documents have already been published on the AAUP website or in Academe, and the parenthetical dates after their titles refer to date of original publication. This year’s Bulletin features a special report on governance, academic freedom, and institutional racism in the UNC system; two academic freedom and tenure investigative reports; a statement on legislative threats to academic freedom; and findings from the 2021–22 Faculty Compensation Survey and the 2022 AAUP Survey of Tenure…