Last Wednesday, UC submitted a list of trainees and fellows to the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to be included in the count for a Student Researcher union. This is in addition to the lists they had already submitted of GSRs, GSRAs and GSARs, and means that PERB can complete its count to verify that a majority of SRs have voted to form a union. The count will likely be completed by sometime next week.
This is exciting news, but there is also cause for concern. In the cover letter to UC’s submission, their lawyers write,
“By providing this list, The Regents does not admit that these graduate students are performing substantially similar work to Graduate Student Researchers and Graduate Assistant Researchers, nor does it admit that the graduate students listed in the attachment have a community of interest with Graduate Student Researchers or Graduate Assistant Researchers. Rather, The Regents merely provides a list of the graduate students receiving the above grants and fellowships. The Regents further reserves the right to raise any defense or objection to the request for recognition, as well as any subsequent certification. Finally, without further information to support the community of interest among all categories, The Regents reserves the right to dispute the appropriateness of the proposed bargaining unit.”
UC appears to be readying to refuse recognition of the SR bargaining unit, regardless of the democratic mandate from the supermajority of SRs who signed union authorization cards. Anyone who works in a lab knows that a trainee, fellow, or GSR all do substantially similar work under the same conditions, often side by side. Saying SRs don’t share a “community of interest” is just a divide-and-conquer tactic.
Once PERB announces the results of their count, UC will have 15 days to either recognize the democratic decision of SRs or oppose the new union as they have done in the past. One thing is for certain: Student Researchers have more power when we’re united, so let’s stick together regardless of what UC does next.
In solidarity,
Katie Augspurger
Tetrad
UC San Francisco