The Continental Divide

Rainbow - Grand Mesa, CO My family’s summer this year focuses on a roadtrip from home near Berkeley to family and friends in Vermont. On the way we stopped in spectacular Grand Mesa National Forest, where our first night at lovely (and chilly!) Island Lake was punctuated by thunderstorms that gave us both an amazing …

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Proposed New APM – 011, “Academic Freedom, Protection of Professional Standards, and Responsibilities of Non-Faculty Academic Appointees”

On an already happy day with news of our MOU’s ratification, we have some additional good news to share. UC Provost Michael Brown has issued a proposed new section of the Academic Personnel Manual (APM)  called APM - 011, “Academic Freedom, Protection of Professional Standards, and Responsibilities of Non-Faculty Academic Appointees.” A 90-day systemwide review …

New UC-AFT Unit 17 Librarian MOU Overwhelmingly Ratified!

In an historic outpouring of support, we ratified our new Memorandum of Understanding (or MOU - details of which can be found in the UC-AFT/UCOP Tentative Agreement summary) by a 98% margin. Despite the vote taking place during spring break, when many librarians were traveling, 94% of our members voted. This vote on our new …

UC-AFT/UCOP Tentative Agreement – Now We Need Your Ratification

Your table team met with UCOP at UC Berkeley on Monday, March 25th, for our 17th bargaining session. During the morning session, UCOP presented a complete package of articles as a counter-proposal to our package proposed at the last session.  UCOP laid out their proposals, wrapping up by noon.  The Table Team worked through lunch …

UC-AFT wins 8 CFT Communications Awards

Our parent union CFT, “A Union of Educators and Classified Professionals,” is affiliated with the more than 1.7 million member American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The CFT comprises more than 120,000 educational employees working at every level of public and private education from Head Start to the University of California, in the state’s 145 local …

Archivists on the Issues: An Update on UCLA Temporary Librarians

The Society of American Archivists (SAA) has a blog called Archivists on the Issues, which recently posted an update on UCLA Temporary Librarians.  We're grateful for their work - please head over to their blog & give it a read.

Daily Cal Video from Bargaining Day

The Daily Californian, UC Berkeley's independent and student-run newspaper, recorded a video during the bargaining rally at Cal on March 13.  The video features librarians Kendra Levine and Charlie Macquarie; check it out... The Daily Cal also posted an article with details from our rally, be sure to give it a read here.

UC-AFT Bargaining Update #16

Your table team met with UCOP at UC Berkeley for our sixteenth bargaining session on Wednesday, March 13th.   Let’s back up a bit here, and talk first about the tremendous amount of work that your entire bargaining team accomplished following the disappointing experience last week in San Diego.  We decided to rise above the …

Rank and file appeal to the University Librarians

While our Table Team was hard at work last week hashing out the details of a hoped-for package deal, our librarians wanted to make sure that UC Library administrators understood how much these issues matter to us, and how vital this phase of negotiations is to reach a deal.  So, we drafted a letter to …

The Art of the Supposal

We've all been feeling frustrated and exasperated by UC management's negotiating tactics this week, and it can be tough to maintain the focus and determination necessary to see this through.  While we're all working hard to collectively move forward in a constructive way, it's important sometimes to stop, step back, and look at the absurdity …