Dear UPTE Members,
There is a very urgent legislative matter: you need to make only one phone call TODAY to your state senator. Read this and find out why and how.
UC hires a notorious law firm called Littler Mendelson to advise them on anti-union and anti-worker tactics. Littler Mendelson is well know as the “union busting law firm“. UC has paid them more than $3.5 million to fight our unions. What’s wrong with that? Well, look at it this way: we all pay state taxes and some of that goes to UC. Many of you, like me, have students in the UC system and we pay ever rising tuition. So, UC is using OUR taxes and OUR tuition to fight US. Is that legal? Apparently it is. Whether UC likes it or not, collective bargaining for public employees is legal in California. So we have to do something about this.
UPTE is co-sponsoring a law called SB 931 by Senator Vargas from San Diego. This bill will prohibit public agencies (UC) from spending public money to hire consultants and legal firms to consult on ways to union bust, or coerce, intimidate, and harass public employees when we exercise our guaranteed rights as employees.
Sorry for the late notice, but this bill has moved very fast. It was before the Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee this past Monday and it will be up for vote before the full Senate this coming Monday, May 16.
Please call your State Senator today and say that you support SB 931 Remember, call today because the vote is on Monday. Here’s how:
Go to the UPTE Systemwide website, Legislative and Political Action. At the top of the page is “STOP publicly funded agencies from contracting to bust public employees” You can read more about this and you can look up your State Senator and his/her phone number. (e.g. if you live in Davis, your Senator is Lois Wolk at (916) 651-4005; if you live in Sacramento, your Senator is Darrell Steinberg at (916) 651-4006.
This is very easy to do. I just called Senator Wolk’s office. You won’t talk to your Senator. You will talk to a staff member who is paid to take these calls. Calls from constituents are vey influential; it let’s them know that someone is watching. If you like, you can tell them that you work for UC and that you are a union member. But, call today!!!
Thanks very much,
Kevin Scott
President, UPTE Local 6, Davis
