UC Student Services, Advising Workers file for unionization on Nov. 8
On Nov. 8, 5,000 University of California workers filed for a new union. The Union is composed of student services and advising workers, and if it gets union recognition, it will become a unit underneath United Auto Workers, according to the Daily Bruin.
According to the Student Services & Advising Professionals of the University of California (UC) website, the Union will represent workers in the financial aid, disability services and academic achieving counseling offices. The workers alleged that nonunion staff received pay raises significantly lower than represented workers, the Daily Bruin reported.
“As Student Services and Advising Professionals, we make essential contributions to UC’s educational mission and student experiences,” Cassie Isaacson, an undergraduate advisor at UC Santa Cruz, said in a press release, according to the Daily Bruin.
The workers forming the union are currently represented by their campus staff assemblies, but are unable to form binding contracts with the University.
“It’s not leading to any type of equal footing in terms of coming to the bargaining table,” UC Los Angeles Assistant Director of Career Services Nandini Inmula said. “There’s no type of contract that you can enforce through the types of conversations that you have with more of an informal conversation at the staff assembly level.”
UC Office of the President spokesperson Heather Hansen said the University already works with unions representing over 137,000 employees and that the University appreciates the work of student services and advising workers.
“The University values our employees’ right to organize, and we respect that there is a majority of support among student services and advising professionals who are currently not represented by a union to pursue the organization of a bargaining unit to represent them,” Hansen said in the statement to the Bruin.
The union is currently waiting to hear back from the Public Employment Relations Board after they filed for union status.
Man charged with repeated gunfire at UC Berkeley
A man who pulled a gun and fired it in the air in a confrontation with five UC Berkeley students on Oct. 26 and at five other locations has been charged with nine felonies and a misdemeanor, according to police and court papers obtained by The Berkeley Scanner.
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office charged 45-year-old Jeffrey Hue with assault with a firearm, discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, shooting at an inhabited dwelling, shooting at an unoccupied vehicle, three counts of possession of an assault weapon, possession of a silencer, possession of armor-piercing ammunition and possession of a firearm without identification numbers.
“Hue pulled a gun from his waistband, pointed it at the students, told them to run and fired a round into the air. The four students ran out of fear of being shot,” the Berkeley Police Department (BPD) wrote, according to The Berkeley Scanner.
BPD found one of the bullets fired by Hue at an occupied apartment. A week before, they found a weapons cache of 12 guns when arresting Hue in his home in San Francisco. Only six of the 12 weapons were registered, police said.
The police also found 15,000 rounds of ammunition, including pistol and rifle rounds, high-capacity magazines and armor-piercing rounds, BPD wrote.
Hue is no longer in court custody as of Nov. 12, and his next court date is scheduled for Nov. 14.
A version of this article appeared on p. 2 of the Nov. 14, 2024 edition of the Daily Nexus.
