Research pay differs in UC, industry

Monday, February 1, 1999

SALARIES: Some employees believe intellectual freedom worth more than extra cash

By Andy Shah

Daily Bruin Staff

The disparities in income between researchers at UCLA and those in the private sector continue to motivate employees' unions to strive for higher wages, while the university contends that the differences are offset by the advantages of working in a college environment.

The average salary of a UCLA staff research associate (SRA) is $34,659, compared with a salary of $52,997 for someone with a comparable position in the private sector, according to representatives from University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE), the union that represents non-faculty researchers.

"UCLA is the most dramatic in the UC system in terms of a gap in income with the private sector," said Daniel Martin, statewide coordinator of UPTE.

Martin also said that UCLA has a 49 percent turnover rate for SRAs, the highest in the UC system.

He said that two principal reasons for these statistics are the income differences and the status of "casual employees," workers who are laid off one day a year so they cannot receive permanent employment status.

"A casual employee has no retirement benefits and a minimal health plan, but they are still employees of the university," Martin said.

But administrators said salary disparities are compensated by the freedom a researcher has at a university.

"The university offers a superior intellectual environment," said C. Kumar Patel, vice chancellor of research. "Some SRAs don't mind the differences in salary because of the freedom they have here."

Patel said that incomes are set by the UC Office of the President, with individual campuses having some leeway in deciding them.

He added the turnover rate is not solely determined by the salary differences.

"They could be leaving because of the salary, working conditions, or just the fact that some trained individuals are greatly in demand in the work force," he said.

Norman Abrams, vice chancellor of academic personnel, said the situation for researchers is similar to that of faculty.

"Many faculty in the professional schools would make much more in the private sector than they make as faculty," he said. "But they might not have much independence or be working on interesting projects.

"If working conditions are attractive, it makes a big difference for faculty and maybe SRAs," he added.

UC officials said they are trying to reach a compromise with the workers.

UC President Richard Atkinson has said that he is not interested in having an "adversarial relationship" with the university's employees.

Researchers said they stay at UCLA for various reasons, despite the higher incomes the private sector might offer.

Kathy Kampf, a SRA in the Neuropsychiatric Institute, said she turned down an interview with a company offering her a $15,000 income increase because of commuting problems.

"I have a child who prefers to stay in the Westside, and my husband works in downtown, so I didn't want to commute all the way to Thousand Oaks for my job," she said.

Although she admits there is a "big difference" in levels of income between the public and private sector, she said there are benefits for staying at UCLA.

"I have the right retirement system, it's a convenient commute and I have secure employment here," she said.

Kampf said that some students entering the work force may be lured by the burgeoning private sector.

"There are some biotech companies offering higher salaries in San Diego and Thousand Oaks, and they might have jobs and money not available in the public sector," she said.

Rita Kern, a SRA with the Mental Retardation Research Center, said that she wasn't too concerned with salary when she came to UCLA 22 years ago.

"In the 1970s, the biotech industry almost didn't exist," she said. "And I worked at UC San Francisco before, so I wanted to stay within the University of California."

She added that she has greater freedom with her projects here.

"At the university, you can stay on a project until completion," she said. "In industry, there's financial pressure. If they don't see value in what you're doing, they'll cut your project short."

Kern said that the only way she would consider a job in the private sector is if there was a major salary hike.

"If there's a $2,000 increase with the other job, I could still just burn that on gas money, and that wouldn't be reason to jump ship," she said.

Some SRAs said they stay at UCLA because of fewer work restrictions.

"It's not a 9-to-5 job, and you don't have to do the same thing over and over again," said Ryan Trinh, a SRA in the immunology lab. "Plus, you get recognized for what you do."

"For example, I could be named co-inventor on a patent here, and I doubt I could do that in industry," he said.

Martin, of UPTE, said some SRAs stay at UCLA because of their devotion to their research.

"They stay in public research because there's an integrity with what they're doing," he said. "It's research without the intent of profit."

But he said the university's research mission is being compromised by the "privatization" of UCLA.

"UCLA is being used as a test campus for corporate ideas, like a reduction in the work force and cutting labor costs," he said. "But, they are not reducing the amount of work."

Labor experts said this concept has affected university administrators.

"If you want to be recognized as a successful administrator at UCLA, you have to show that you're a cost cutter, and I don't know if that's the most appropriate style for a university," said Michael Kushner, a program coordinator for the Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program, which is part of the UCLA Labor Center.

He added that UPTE will continue to bargain with the university to get raises for its constituents, but admitted that it's a tough process.

"It's going nowhere," he said. "The university seems to have no serious commitment to reach a compromise with us."

Martin said that UPTE is questioning how private donations are used by the university.

"We don't know what the real intent of some partnerships are," he said. "There have to be people at higher levels who are benefitting from these donations, because we don't think that the students and faculty are benefitting from them."

This week, UPTE will publish a report detailing the salary differences between SRAs and private sector researchers and turnover rates.Researcher Rita Kern

has stayed

at UCLA for the past 22 years because she believes that the university offers

scientists more

flexibility and time to work on projects than do

private firms.

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