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Extension employees have been negotiating with the university for better wages during the past six months 

Their red shirts were red flags. Clerical workers at the UC Berkeley Extension rallied outside their building on University Avenue Friday to protest what they see as a skimpy contract proposal from the university. 

UC administrators are offering the Coalition of University of Employees a 1 percent pay raise and have taken away merit increases, which would raise salaries based on good performance reports. CUE has been negotiating with the university for the last six months, but now clerical workers at the Extension school are fed up. 

Holding signs that said, “Honk if you think clericals deserve a raise” and blowing whistles, the workers wanted to make sure the university heard their discontent. 

“We need more than the 1 percent raise,” said Sue Meux, an administrative assistant. “There are no merit increases and most of us got good reports and earned them last year. We’ve also had layoffs and they expect us to pick up the work load. But there’s no incentive.”  

“We’re out here to let the university know we’re watching them and we’re not happy,” said Meux. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington was also out supporting the workers.  

“I think it’s very unfair that the university keeps having top-heavy increases and refusing to give reasonable cost-of-living increases for employees,” said Worthington. 

“If the City of Berkeley made this offer to its unions like the university is making to this union, people would laugh at us. It’s not a serious negotiation tactic,” he said. 

The issue is important to students, too.  

“At a big state school, it’s important that students get as much attention as possible,” said Cal student Snehal Shingavi. 

Without clerical workers who organize the process, he said, students could get lost in the shuffle.  

CUE has been unhappy with the university’s compensation package for some time. Members also held a rally on campus last week to protest the transit subsidy program. 

Meux hopes that the university realizes how important it is to have happy, productive clerical employees. 

“Take away the clericals and the university comes to a standstill,” she said. 

Vice Chancellor Horace Mitchell, who oversees business and administrative services, was out of town. Other human resources officials at the university could not be reached for comment.