University of Califronia Task Force Paves the Way For More Cuts But a United Student/Worker offensive Can Stop Them

Students leading the struggle against cuts at UC Berkeley

The University of California Task Force set up to “reform” the university’s pension and retirement system released its findings this week and, as expected, “reform” will mean further attacks on students and workers in the university system.

The university hiked fees 32% this year, a move that sparked fierce resistance from students that culminated in the 2010 March 4th strikes, rallies, occupations and protests that became the March 4th movement for some. Lawrence Pitts, chairman of the UC task force suggests that the 32% fee hike may not be enough and that further tuition increases are necessary. This is a move that will likely add momentum to the student movement that has ebbed somewhat since its peak from September 2009 to March 2010. Another day of action has been called for on October 7th.

UC Berkeley 2009

Some Unions including the two million strong California Labor Federation endorsed the call for a strike and day of action on March 4th. This was very positive but the heads of organized Labor never went beyond that. There was no organized effort on the part of the Labor leadership to join with the students in the call for a 24-hour strike on March 4th, despite having ample time to prepare the ground for such united action. The millions of dollars, and human resources that Union officials spend each election cycle on Democratic Party candidates could have been used to reach in to every Union local and every workplace and community in California, linking the issue of education to the attacks on wages, benefits, housing and transportation. Consequently, while the top Labor officials ensured the students were given tacit support from the rear, the youth found themselves fighting pretty much alone.

The UC system has some 100,000 employees. A combined student worker movement would be a serious threat to the efforts to privatize education. There are some six Unions that represent workers in the system and at one point at UC Berkeley thousands of students supported a strike by UC employees. A major obstacle in the struggle to drive back the attacks on workers and students are the policies of the Union leaders.

The thousands of university employees represent some real power. The employers will not be defeated as long as workers honor clauses in contracts that forbid unity, or secondary strike action. One Union strikes and others cross picket lines. In fact, most picket lines these days are simply protests; they are not designed to actually stop production, as the general policy of the strategists of the Labor movement is the Team Concept on the job and in the political sphere through an unholy alliance with the Democrats. Naturally, it is almost impossible for individual workers to violate these clauses. In order to be effective, clauses that are an obstacle to working class solidarity and unity in action have to be violated en masse. This has to be organized, but united action is made more difficult when the leaders of the organizations engage in internecine wars competing with each other and raiding each other in order to gain more members and therefore revenue in the form of dues money.

This is exactly what occurred during the height of the employer’s offensive against students and workers in the university system, the leaders of the numerous Unions were engaged in a raiding struggle trying to win the UC’s 14,000 clerical workers, members of the Coalition of University Employees. This was scandalous to say the least and added to the confusion and fear workers feel already and should have been condemned openly by Union activists and student leaders alike. Some ideas that I was able to get in to the hands of some UC employees at the time given my limited resources can be read in the right hand column on the page titled In Unity There is Strength, or click here. If you have any views on this feel free to comment on this blog.

“While claiming that cost cutting is needed, UC unbelievably increases retirement benefits for highly compensated executives, while cutting low-wage retirement benefits in half.” Says Juan Posada, President of AFSCME that represents some 21,000 UC employees in response to the Task Force recommendations. But why would brother Posada find this “unbelievable?” It’s been going on for decades. AFSCME was one of the Unions that in the middle of a war against students and workers on the part of the UC administration opened a front of its own aimed at recruiting the members of another Union.

While giving some technical support to the students like printing fliers and such or providing buses here and there is welcomed, bringing the power of Labor to the table is what will open the road to victory.  In response to the Task Force recommendations (and what should have been done long ago),  meetings should be organized on and off the job of all workers, Union and non-Union. Intra Union worker’s committees should be formed in the work place that can link with the students and lay the groundwork for united strike action by both students and staff throughout the university system. It is also important to work to one united Union throughout the university system and in th meantime for all contracts to have the same expiration date.

This will interfere with the leadership of organized Labor’s campaign to get the anti-Union Jerry Brown elected governor of California so they will not do this without major pressure from below, but it is what has to be done to throw back the attempts to destroy public education.

Directing our efforts at the rank and file of the Unions will put an end to the limited support on offer from those at the helm; they won’t print fliers any more. But this will not matter in the long run as an organized rank and file is what can win and the support of the present leadership is based on not involving the rank and file as the strategists of the Labor movement generally agree that cuts have to be made; they just want the employers to be a little nicer and a mobilized membership undermines this strategy.