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March 15, 1999

UC president issues letter regarding UCLA teaching assistant vote

Last week, teaching assistants and other students in academic titles at the Los Angeles campus held an election to determine if they wish to be represented by the United Auto Workers for purposes of collective bargaining. Below is President Atkinson's statement issued Friday, March 12.


This week, an election was held to determine whether Teaching Assistants and other students in academic titles at UCLA wish to be represented by an affiliate of the United Auto Workers (UAW) for purposes of collective bargaining. This election was ordered by the state Public Employment Relations Board, which has ruled that Teaching Assistants at UCLA are eligible for collective bargaining under state law and has denied our request for a judicial review of that decision. The results of the election will be known soon.

We will respect the outcome of this election and will abide by the choice made by the students. If that choice is union representation, I want to assure our students and the UAW that the university will make every effort to cooperate fully and to bargain in good faith at UCLA. We will welcome the opportunity to discuss any issue that concerns students as employees--wages, grievance procedures, union access to the campus, and other terms and conditions of employment specified under the state Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act.

The university will continue, of course, to make decisions about matters of academic judgment. Among these matters are the content and conditions of students' education, which students are most appropriate to hold academic apprenticeships, and how the courses to which they are assigned are to be organized, taught, and graded. Such decisions are essential to preserving both the faculty role in overseeing the academic curriculum and the mentoring relationship between faculty members and graduate students.

Whatever the outcome of the UCLA election, Chancellor Carnesale and I will do everything possible to ensure a productive and cooperative relationship among all members of the UC community.

Richard C. Atkinson
President, University of California


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