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UC students returning to class today are in for a raucous welcome. 

Clerical workers and their supporters are expected to flank the university demanding higher wages in the first day of their scheduled three-day strike. Union supporters are calling the strike the largest at the university since 1972.  

“We’ll have a presence at every entrance and driveway,” said Michael-David Sasson, president of Local 3 of the Coalition of Union Employees, which represents clerical positions including telephone operators, administrative assistants, library assistants and child care workers. 

Five hundred clericals have signed up to picket, and hundreds of members from other university and local unions are due to join them, Sasson said. 

UC students returning to class today are in for a raucous welcome. 

Clerical workers and their supporters are expected to flank the university demanding higher wages in the first day of their scheduled three-day strike. Union supporters are calling the strike the largest at the university since 1972.  

“We’ll have a presence at every entrance and driveway,” said Michael-David Sasson, president of Local 3 of the Coalition of Union Employees, which represents clerical positions including telephone operators, administrative assistants, library assistants and child care workers. 

Five hundred clericals have signed up to picket, and hundreds of members from other university and local unions are due to join them, Sasson said. 

While union officials will urge students and university employees to join them on the picket lines, strikers do not intend to block anyone from entering buildings or the campus. 

“We’ll be trying to communicate our message, not block students,” said Michael Eisencher of University Council-American Federation of Teachers. The teachers union represents 600 UC Berkeley lecturers that are planning to strike with clericals on Wednesday, the last day of the clerical work stoppage. 

The university’s 2,300 clerical workers have been without a contract since last year. They are demanding a 15 percent pay increase over two years. University officials, though, say state budget cutbacks allow them to offer a 3.5 percent raise. 

In anticipation of the strike, UC Berkeley officials have told students to expect delays when phoning the university and processing schedule changes. 

Pledges of support from other unions, though, could bring the university further hardships. 

Numerous classes are likely to be canceled Wednesday when clerical workers are joined by approximately 600 striking lectures. The lecturers, who constitute more than half of the university’s teaching faculty, have been without a contract since 2000 and are demanding higher pay and better job security. 

In addition, UC Berkeley’s Tang Medical Center will be open only to emergency patients Monday through Wednesday due to a planned sympathy strike by 50 unionized nurses. 

Graduate students, who teach some of UC’s classes, have also been asked by their union officials to honor the clericals’ picket lines, potentially resulting in more canceled classes. 

University officials, however, are claiming that sympathy strikes by graduate students and nurses are illegal because both these employees have “no-strike” clauses in their contracts. The university has threatened both unions with lawsuits and has posted a warning on its web site threatening disciplinary action against employees who strike alongside the clericals. 

Sasson said union solidarity would stifle other university activities as well. 

“There won’t be any Federal Express deliveries and we expect to turn construction workers and delivery trucks back,” he said. 

University officials downplayed the strike’s impact. They say that although students may wait in longer lines for services, they do not expect students to be inconvenienced. 

“Each department is making a contingency plan,” said Carol Hyman, university spokesperson. “We expect very little disruption.” 

According to the university’s web site, doctors will offer emergency care at the medical center and child care managers will provide scaled-back service at the university’s four child care centers. 

Extra security will be on hand during the strike and the university may postpone deliveries until Thursday to avoid problems with unionized delivery workers, Hyman said. 

A year of negotiations has failed to resolve the gaps between UC and the clericals. The core of the dispute concerns a $2.3 billion fund that the clericals say could be used to fund a 15 percent raise.  

UC negotiators say the money is needed to operate its programs and can only offer higher wages if the state provides increased funding for that purpose. 

Union officials hope the three-day strike will convince university officials to improve their contract offer. 

“We’re going to show them how much they need us,” Sasson said. 

The strike will be the first by clerical workers in 30 years, but Sasson said that if an agreement is not reached soon, more could follow. 

“Without an agreement, demonstrations and more strikes will be happening on every UC campus,” Sasson said.