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UC Berkeley union members will receive university-funded transportation subsidies, one month after the university officially offered the benefit. 

Since July clerical workers have been uncertain whether they were eligible for the $4 subsidy because contract negotiations were still going on. Despite the negotiations, the university has agreed to square away transportation benefits. 

The clerical workers are still negotiating a pay increase and parking issues. 

The transit bonus is offered by New Directions, a UC Berkeley office that promotes environmentally-friendly commuting. On July 1, New Directions increased its monthly public transportation subsidy from $6 to $10 and lowered its car pool parking rates. 

Union officials maintained that the New Directions program was independent of the bargaining process and should have been available to employees of bargaining unions. 

On July 29, the university agreed, but the transportation office failed to recognize the decision. 

“When I went to ask July 30 to get a transit subsidy, I was horrified to be told because I was a member in a union, I didn’t qualify for the reduced new rates,” CUE member Jude Bell said in a statement. 

CUE officials said they received conflicting information from university officials for more than a month. And at one point, the union members were not only denied the July bonus, but weren’t allowed benefits they had previously been offered by New Directions, according to Nora Foster co-chair of the CUE affiliated Improve Transit Parking Committee. 

But now, Harrington says the transit office is offering union members their old transit benefits as well as the July bonus. 

Resolution of the transit bonus, though, does little to bridge the gaps between CUE and the university on other parking issues.  

Union officials have proposed providing members with a free AC Transit pass, currently available to students, and basing parking fees on income. 

“It’s absurd that someone making $130,000 is paying the same for parking as someone making $30,000,” said Sasson. 

In June, CUE approved a strike if matters are not settled, and along with university lecturers represented by the United Federation of Teachers, may announce a strike date for the beginning of the fall semester on Aug. 21.