Dear Union Family:
We wanted to address the two large elephants in the room: Early Exit Program and Layoffs. Last week Dr. Ochoa announced the creation of an Early Exit Program. Please note that the creation, announcement, and implementation of such a program was done entirely without negotiation with CSUEU. This program took a solid period of time to conceive and implement. There was ample time for negotiations with the unions, which the University declined to use. We immediately filed an unfair labor charge with California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) due to the unilateral implementation of this program. To take this kind of action without discussing it with the Union is an insult to all of us. We were subsequently noticed of the change with an offer to bargain and we will certainly meet, as well as continue to pursue the unfair charge.
Wednesday (July 29) the University held a town hall meeting. It was started out by discussing the University’s commitment to inclusivity, which cannot be further from the truth in terms of respect from management toward everybody who was on that call. Your Union asked immediately upon receiving notification of the meeting to whom we could submit our questions ahead of time. The University declined to allow people to ask questions aside from a moderated format that does not allow anybody to see what is being asked except for the gatekeeper. The University attempted to silence the voice of the people and we will not stand for it. If the University will not open up the ability for people to discuss then we will come up with a method ourselves to allow open communication for censored meetings.
During the town hall, Dr. Ochoa dropped a bomb that 1) layoffs have already taken place (these are University Corporation layoffs and not applicable to us), and 2) there are more layoffs coming. He made it sound as if layoffs are in process, which, to the best of CSUEU’s knowledge, is not the case. We have not been notified of layoffs, but if and when that were to happen, we will go through the mitigation process. Some people have asked about furloughs, which, until we have a layoff notice to understand the magnitude of any cuts that may be planned is putting the cart before the horse. Other types of mitigation include, but are not limited to, retraining and reassigning CSUEU members, furloughing and laying off of management positions, as well as stopping unnecessary construction projects. If and when we are notified of any layoffs, we will notify the membership.
The CSUEU layoff process is based upon specific classifications being identified and then going through the layoff process for that individual classification. This means that even if your position is identified as one to be let go it does not necessarily mean that you are going to be laid off as there is a process for moving people around campus based on seniority.
We will not stand for this treatment as your Union and therefore, we are taking action and need your help. The President’s Office, Cabinet and UP want us to remain disconnected and confused so that we cannot collectivize and take action. This is why the chat is disabled during the Town Hall meeting - so we cannot communicate.
The only way our actions, as a Union, can be seen and heard is to stand together. At our next Town Hall meeting we will be ready and connected with a LIVE chat for CSUEU members through the platform Slack.
Please follow this link to download Slack.
As a Union, the more united we are, the stronger our message. Please submit a question to the Union or a Steward below if you have any questions or concerns.
We will see you virtually, to discuss more, on August 18, 2020 (12-1pm) for our CSUEU Chapter 322 Meeting.
In Union,
CSUEU Chapter 322, Executive Board
