Contents Clericals' Discrimination Complaint Gets National Attention Readers of the CUE NEWS are urged to check CUE's web page to read the recent U.S. News and World Report story about secret syphilis testing of African-American employees at UC's Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and CUE's response to that situation. Chief among our goals is to constructively fight for a workplace free of discrimination. So far, UC's pitch has been directed largely at supervisors, who have been encouraged to believe it is their job to discourage discussion in their units about the election. Fortunately, most supervisors seem to feel they already have enough to do, without having to monitor the content of staff conversations and try to abridge basic free speech rights in their offices - so normal life continues, with clericals from Davis to San Diego discussing among themselves the importance of voting for a strong and effective union to work for fair pay and working conditions. We are one big happy family at UC and unions just get in the way.
Staff always has management's ear, and management is listening carefully.
The awards are funded by money that was allocated by the state legislature and by contract funding sources for general, base-building salary increases. Having received this money for general increases, UC then redirected the money to fund incentive awards, which do not increase basic salary levels or retirement pensions. There is little or no consistency between campuses, or even departments, in the selection processes for these awards. While some units have developed methods that are as fair as they can be under the circumstances, in many units, secrecy surrounds the selection process. Favoritism has been cited by many as a main factor in the selection of those to receive awards.