In addition, Subversity host Daniel C. Tsang will be reporting on the strike in daily updates to be broadcast on KUCI beginning this evening, Monday November 30, 1998, at 5 p.m. The broadcasts are scheduled for the duration of the strike, each weekday at 5 p.m.
SWU members who strike are expected to not turn in grades in classes they teach, and to stage picket lines seeking support across campus.
At one point during a recent public forum, Graduate Dean Frederic Wan threatened to replace TAs with AFT Unit 18 lecturers, apparently if the strike is prolonged into the next quarter, saying it would be cheaper. But it is not likely that AFT members would willingly become scabs.
The UAW, which represents TAs here and across the UC, will pay strike benefits, but that is only estimated at covering 1/3 of their pay. UC is the largest employer in the state, according to SWU.
At the crux of the conflict is the refusal of UCI Chancellor Cicerone to sign a paper recognizing the union. The UCI administration argues that its hands are tied by central University Administration, which prefers to see the issue fought out in the courts. SWU has written letters to pro-labor allies in the state legislature (and even Dean Danziger suggested such letters yesterday), and with the Democrats retaining both houses of the state legislature, and with incoming Governor Gray Davis replacing Governor Pete Wilson on the UC Board of Regents, it seems likely that the UC administration will have to eventually recognize the union.
The imminent strike is the cover story in a recent Chronicle of Higher Education. At the forum, Dean Wan also came under criticism for comments in other media that TAs don't teach and for comparing TAs to children seeking to negotiate with parents over mowing the lawn (the latter in the Christian Science Monitor of November 3, 1998).
SWU can be reached at: http://home1.gte.net/trio/union.htm. Fred Wan's "open letter" against SWU is at: http://www.rgs.uci.edu/rig/gsunion.htm. The Los Angeles Times OC edition featured an article on the strike today: Grad Students Set to Strike at UCI, Elsewhere
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To call KUCI studios during the show, dial (949) 824-KUCI (5824).
Subversity airs each Tuesday from 5-6 p.m. on KUCI, 88.9 FM.
Next Tuesday, Subversity will feature gay teens from the latest high school support group.
E-mail: subversity@kuci.org URL: www.kuci.org/~dtsang Host: Daniel C. Tsang, (949) 824-4978