UNFINISHED BUSINESS 

Bill No: SCR 29

Author: Leyva (D), et al.

Amended: 7/1/19

Vote: 21

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 8/12/19 (Consent) - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Postsecondary education: University of California: University Council-American Federation of Teachers

SOURCE: California Federation of Teachers

DIGEST:

This resolution recognizes June 27, 2019, as the anniversary of the commencement of the University Council-American Federation of Teachers’ (UC-AFT) representation of librarians, and commends the librarians represented by the UC-AFT for their contributions to the University of California.

Assembly Amendments

delete findings, make technical changes, and add coauthors.

ANALYSIS: This resolution makes the following legislative findings:

1. The UC-AFT is the union of more than 370 librarians and 5,000 faculty employees who are not members of the Academic Senate of the University of California and who are employed at the 10 campuses of the University of California.
2. UC-AFT members join together to work for legislative solutions to educational policy issues and full access to quality public higher education for our students.
3. UC-AFT has been fighting for better treatment of its members by the University of California for nearly half a century. It was formally organized in 1971, when seven AFT local unions at the University of California voted to establish themselves as a council. Following the passage in 1978 of the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relation Act, which allowed for collective bargaining in the University of California system, representation elections were held for two groups of employees, librarians and faculty employees who were not members of the Academic Senate of the University of California. On June 27, 1983, librarians voted to be represented by UC-AFT.
4. Libraries are the heart of the University of California’s educational mission to faculty, students, and the greater public, and librarians are their stewards.
5. Librarians embody the public mission of the University of California of making materials available to all members of the California polity.
6. UC-AFT has been working in coalition with other UC unions that together now represent more than 60,000 University of California employees systemwide, including 10,000 graduate student instructors; 18,000 clerical staff; 12,000 technical, health, and staff research assistants; and 13,000 service and hospital technicians; as well as nurses, firefighters, and other employees.

This resolution recognizes June 27, 2019, as the anniversary of the commencement of the UC-AFT representation of librarians, and commends these librarians for their contributions to the University of California system.

Related/Prior Legislation

ACR 49 (Medina, 2019) commends UC-AFT and faculty represented by UC-AFT for their contributions to the University of California. The resolution is pending referral in the Assembly.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No

SUPPORT: (Verified 8/12/19)

California Federation of Teachers (source)

OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/12/19)

None received

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The author states, “The University Council-American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT) librarians are vital assets to the University of California (UC) community and the students they serve. UC librarians work tirelessly to support their students and university campuses with materials, comprehensive research, and technical support. UC librarians are critical to the prestige of the UC as a nation-leading research institution and an engine of opportunity throughout the state and nation. Every librarian deserves a living wage to support themselves and their families. SCR 29 highlights the contributions of the UC-AFT and its more than 370 librarians and 5,000 faculty employees.

“SCR 29 recognizes the efforts of UC librarians to secure adequate compensation and benefits that respect their tremendous value to the public mission of the UC.”

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 8/12/19

AYES: Aguiar-Curry, Arambula, Bauer-Kahan, Berman, Bigelow, Bloom, Boerner Horvath, Bonta, Brough, Burke, Calderon, Carrillo, Cervantes, Chau, Chen, Chiu, Choi, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Cunningham, Daly, Diep, Eggman, Flora, Fong, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gloria, Gonzalez, Gray, Grayson, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Kamlager-Dove, Kiley, Lackey, Levine, Limón, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Patterson, Petrie-Norris, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Salas, Santiago, Smith, Mark Stone, Ting, Voepel, Waldron, Weber, Wicks, Wood, Rendon

NO VOTE RECORDED: Frazier, McCarty

Prepared by: Melissa Ward / SFA / (916) 651-1520

8/14/19 15:38:19

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Date of Hearing: July 9, 2019

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION

Jose Medina, Chair

SBPCA Bill Id:SCR 29

Author:(Leyva) – As Amended Ver:July 1, 2019

SENATE VOTE: 30-0

SUBJECT: Postsecondary education: University of California: University Council-American Federation of Teachers.

SUMMARY: Recognizes June 27, 2019, as the anniversary of the commencement of the University Council-American Federation of Teachers’ (UC-AFT) representation of librarians. Specifically, this resolution:

1. Makes numerous declarations and findings, including:
   1. The UC-AFT was formally organized on June 19, 1971, when seven AFT local unions at the University of California (UC) voted to establish themselves as a council;
   2. Following the passage in 1978 of the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA), which allowed for collective bargaining in the UC, representation elections were held for two groups of employees, librarians and faculty employees who were not members of the UC Academic Senate;
   3. The UC-AFT is the union of more than 370 librarians and 5,000 faculty employees who are not members of the UC Academic Senate, but are employed at the 10 campuses of the UC;
   4. The UC-AFT members join together to work for legislative solutions to educational policy issues and full access to quality public higher education for their students;
   5. On June 27, 1983, librarians voted to be represented by UC-AFT and began bargaining in December 1983;
   6. Librarians embody the public mission of the UC of making materials available to all members of the California polity; and,
   7. UC-AFT has been working in coalition with other UC unions that together now represent more than 60,000 UC employees systemwide, including, but not limited to:
      1. 10,000 graduate student instructors;
      2. 18,000 clerical staff;
      3. 12,000 technical, health, and staff research assistants; and,
      4. 13,000 service and hospital technicians.
2. Recognizes June 27, 2019, as the anniversary of the commencement of the UC-AFT representation of librarians.
3. Commends the UC-AFT librarians for their contributions to the UC system.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Establishes the UC as a public trust to be administered by the Regents of the UC; and, grants the Regents full powers of organization and government, subject only to such legislative control as may be necessary to insure security of its funds, compliance with the terms of its endowments, statutory requirements around competitive bidding and contracts, sales of property and the purchase of materials, goods and services (Article IX, Section (9)(a) of the California Constitution).
2. Provides that officers and employees of the UC and the California State University (CSU) are exempt from civil service (Article VII, Section 4(h) of the California Constitution).
3. Establishes HEERA to provide a statutory framework to regulate labor relations between UC, CSU, and Hastings College of Law and their employees; provides the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) authority to enforce HEERA (Government Code Section 3560-3599).

FISCAL EFFECT: None. This resolution is keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel.

COMMENTS: Background. In September of 1978, Governor Jerry Brown signed HEERA, authorizing employees of the UC and CSU systems to engage in collective bargaining.

However, The UC-AFT formally organized on June 19, 1971, when seven AFT locals at UC voted to establish themselves as a council. To note, the council and its constituent locals had represented UC employees as a non-bargaining agent since 1963.

Further, in 1983, librarians chose the UC-AFT as their exclusive bargaining agent; and in 1984, contingent (part-time and lecturers) faculty also chose UC-AFT as their bargaining agent.

Today, UC-AFT comprises nine local unions (one at each undergraduate campus) and two bargaining units. UC-AFT is the exclusive bargaining representative for approximately 5,000 contingent faculty (mostly lecturers) and over 370 professional librarians at all UC campuses. UC-AFT negotiates a single, statewide collective bargaining agreement for each unit, bringing clarity and consistency to policies and practices across the UC system.

Purpose of the resolution. According to the author, “The UC-AFT librarians are vital assets to the UC community and the students they serve. UC librarians work tirelessly to support their students and university campuses with materials, comprehensive research, and technical support”. The author argues that, “UC librarians are critical to the prestige of the UC as a nation-leading research institution and an engine of opportunity throughout the state and nation”.

This measure recognizes June 27, 2019 as the anniversary of the commencement of the UC-AFT representation of librarians. Additionally, this resolution highlights some of the contributions of the UC-AFT and its more than 370 librarians and 5,000 faculty employees.

Related legislation. ACR 49 (Medina), which is pending in the Assembly, commends UC-AFT and faculty represented by UC-AFT for their contributions to the UC.

To note, Committee Staff understands that instead of moving ACR 49 through the Legislative Process, the author presented UC-AFT with a Member Resolution commending UC-AFT for their contributions to the UC.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

California Federation of Teachers (Sponsor)

Opposition

None on file.

Analysis Prepared by: Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916) 319-3960

 THIRD READING 

Bill No: SCR 29

Author: Leyva (D)

Introduced: 3/19/19

Vote: 21

SUBJECT: Postsecondary education: University of California: University Council-American Federation of Teachers

SOURCE: California Federation of Teachers

DIGEST:

This resolution commends the University Council-American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT) and its represented librarians for their contributions to the University of California.

ANALYSIS: This resolution makes the following legislative findings:

1. The UC-AFT is the union of more than 370 librarians and 5,000 faculty employees who are not members of the Academic Senate of the University of California and who are employed at the 10 campuses of the University of California.
2. UC-AFT members join together to work for and to defend better salaries and benefits, greater security of employment, professional respect and support, workplace rights, academic freedom, legislative solutions to educational policy issues, and full access to quality public higher education for our students.
3. UC-AFT has been fighting for better treatment of its members by the University of California for nearly half a century. It was formally organized in 1971, when seven AFT local unions at the University of California voted to establish themselves as a council. Following the passage in 1978 of the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relation Act, which allowed for collective bargaining in the University of California system, representation elections were held for two groups of employees, librarians, and faculty employees who were not members of the Academic Senate of the University of California. In June 1983, librarians voted to be represented by UC-AFT.
4. Libraries are the heart of the University of California’s educational mission to faculty, students, and the greater public, and librarians are their stewards.
5. Librarians embody the public mission of the University of California of making materials available to all members of the California polity.
6. UC-AFT is fighting to retain academic freedom for its librarian members. UC-AFT is working to provide a living wage to its members to combat the University of California’s serious problem with recruitment and retention of librarians.

This resolution commends the UC-AFT and its represented librarians for their contributions to the University of California system; supports UC-AFT’s struggle to retain academic freedom for its librarian members; and commends UC-AFT efforts to secure adequate compensation for its membership to keep the University of California competitive.

Related/Prior Legislation

ACR 49 (Medina, 2019) commends UC-AFT and faculty represented by UC-AFT for their contributions to the University of California. The resolution is pending referral in the Assembly.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No

SUPPORT: (Verified 3/25/19)

California Federation of Teachers (source)

OPPOSITION: (Verified 3/25/19)

None received

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The author states, “The University Council-American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT) librarians are vital assets to the University of California (UC) community and the students they serve. UC librarians work tirelessly to support their students and university campuses with materials, comprehensive research, and technical support. UC librarians are critical to the prestige of the UC as a nation-leading research institution and an engine of opportunity throughout the state and nation. Every librarian deserves a living wage to support themselves and their families. SCR 29 highlights the contributions of the UC-AFT and its more than 370 librarians and 5,000 faculty employees.

“SCR 29 recognizes the efforts of UC librarians to secure adequate compensation and benefits that respect their tremendous value to the public mission of the UC.”

Prepared by: Melissa Ward / SFA / (916) 651-1520

3/27/19 15:01:05

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