Got the Monday blues? Start your week off right with a helping of useful information and informed opinion. 

This is the second issue of the Monday Memo, which will cover developments surrounding UC’s budget and the new furlough plan. To subscribe, please send an email to subscriptions_mondaymemo@upte-cwa.org. You will only get one email a week from the Monday Memo on this list.
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For the week of August 03, 2009

UC’s mission of education and research is in danger due to the furloughs and other cuts, according to many of those interviewed in an article in the Los Angeles Times.

At UC Berkeley, dozens of administrative workers have received layoff notices and been told to reapply for their jobs as part of a reorganization of state-funded research units. Some of the workers affected have decades of service with UC. Sixty-seven lecturers at UCLA have received layoff notices, dated one year in advance.

The Santa Barbara Independent reports that a coalition of students, staff and faculty have organized the UC Community Coalition for Option 4 to oppose UC President Mark Yudof’s 3 “options” for salary cuts, furloughs, and student fee increases. They advocate for other alternatives that don’t damage UC. For details, see the Option 4 website.

San Diego’s La Prensa published a critical op-ed by a faculty member in response to one suggestion to close some UC campuses.

Meanwhile, at the Cal State University system, students protested 20% fee hikes, and faculty accepted furloughs as well voting “no confidence” in the system’s chancellor.

State workers have voted to authorize a strike to protest the governor’s imposition of two extra furlough days a month, above and beyond the one they agreed to in union bargaining. Each day represents about 5% of salary.

Rich Harvard, Poor Harvard is the title of a piece that delves into that university’s decline in funding due to its wasteful, corporate-style management over the past decade. Lessons for UC?

The Monday Memo got some feedback, both pro and con, about an independent website to which we had linked that included a salary tool to examine different furlough options. The site’s author argues that Yudof’s furlough plan is unfair to lower-income workers. Some readers were upset that their salaries were included in the data that UCOP discloses to the public, while others found the site “very convenient and helpful.” UC salaries are also publicly available via various newspaper websites such as the Sacramento Bee and the San Francisco Chronicle. _____________________________________________________________________________________

The Monday Memo is edited collectively by a group of UC administrative professionals who are working for union representation with UPTE-CWA. We publish most Mondays, unless it is a university holiday, or we just need a mental health day off. We welcome your submissions, either credited or anonymous, at mondaymemo@upte-cwa.org.

Please feel free to forward this memo to your colleagues.

If you are a UC administrative professional and haven’t asked your coworkers to sign a commitment card for the union, please do so today. All administrative professionals are also welcome to become members of UPTE, with all the associated rights and benefits.