AFSCME members strike at UCLA

A majority of the 2,000 UCLA members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union went on strike on Thursday.

AFSCME members work in residential dining and housing services, and the Associated Students of UCLA campus restaurants.

At the UCLA Medical Center, AFSCME members work as security guards, custodians and cafeteria staff.

AFSCME members decided to strike “to protest UC’s refusal to bargain in good faith,” according to an AFSCME press release.

“This was a success,” said Luz Roman, an assistant cook who said she has worked at UCLA catering for eight years.

“People are tired, they can’t take it, they need changes. If this doesn’t work, we will go bigger until (the University of California) understands our needs,” Roman said.

The UC and AFSCME have been in contract negotiations over the past nine months, and are still in the bargaining process.

“We very much regret and are sensitive to the fact that our service employees have not been able to receive pay increases because of the state budget crisis,” said Noel Van Nyhuis, a spokesman for the UC Office of the President.

The UC cannot currently guarantee wage increases in the new contract, Van Nyhuis said.

Negotiations between the UC and AFSCME are on hold until a neutral fact-finder sends recommendations to both sides, at which point both sides must agree to those suggestions before a contract is signed.

Despite the strike, some students chose to eat at the dining halls.

Students that chose to eat in the dining halls ate on disposable dishes and used disposable silverware.

At 12:30 p.m., the middle of what should be the lunch-time rush at the Covel dining hall, all but around a dozen tables were empty and there was more food prepared than there were students.

At 6 p.m. less than 20 students were eating at each of the open dining halls: Covel, De Neve and Rieber.

UCLA made preparations to ensure that the strike did not affect normal campus activity.

University police Capt. John Adams said additional police were deployed to campus to ensure the strike and rally were peaceful.

Workers were also hired from a temporary employment agency to ensure that students were able to eat in the dining hall and at ASUCLA eateries.

Hedrick Dining Hall, Puzzles, Crossroads and My Pizza were closed, according to a UCLA Dining flier.

“It’s not as much variety,” said Anna Nierenberg, a first-year biology student who chose to eat in Covel dining hall for dinner.

“I don’t know enough about the strike, I feel like I don’t have any information from the UC,” Nierenberg said.

“I’m eating my normal dinner.”

Many other students did not eat in the dining halls on Thursday.

Allison Ho, a first-year math and applied science student, said she chose to not eat in the dorms on Thursday because she was afraid the workers would get mad at her for using their services.

Other students decided they would not eat in the dining halls once they first heard there would be a strike.

“To be frank, this is only a day of food, and this could mean a year’s worth of salary,” said Irene Dominguez, a third-year psychology student.

“Why not help someone?”

Workers noted that a significant amount of students chose not to eat in the dining halls.

“About 200 students came to De Neve for breakfast instead of the usual 800,” said Tasha Hunter, who said she has worked at UCLA for six years, and chose to strike Thursday.

Many workers expressed how integral students were to the strike on Thursday.

“We all love what we’re doing here. We’re here working for them. We’re dedicated,” said Debbie Carreon, a Dining Services worker of nine years.

“Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

Some professors at UCLA also supported the strike.

Sharon Traweek, a history professor at UCLA, said that an e-mail was sent out from the UC telling professors to hold class unless the chair of the department provides written permission to not hold class.

Traweek said the chair of the history department sent out a “blanket e-mail” giving permission to the history professors to cancel class at their discretion.

Tom O’Brien, who is a foreman working on the construction of Rieber, said that he supported the strike.

“I hope they get what they want,” O’Brien said. “We believe in what they are doing. All the unions should be striking.”

Construction workers are not part of AFSCME.

There are no additional strikes planned by AFSCME, but workers have said they are willing to if the bargaining process does not end soon.

“We don’t make enough money to be able to afford a longer strike, but we are willing to do it,” said Bernarda Marcial, who said she has worked at UCLA for seven years.