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The Coalition of University Employees (CUE), which represents 18,000 secretaries, library assistants and other clerical workers at the University of California, rejected a comprehensive UC contract offer last week. The rejection will probably lead to state intervention in a 1 1/2-year-old contract dispute over wages and workplace safety that has sparked strikes on five of UC’s nine campuses since late August. 

The clericals’ Oct. 31 refusal came just one day after UC lecturers, locked in a 2 1/2-year-old battle with the university over wages and job security, turned down a contract offer of their own. State intervention in that fight also appears likely. 

CUE and the University Council-American Federation of Teachers, which represents the lecturers, will have separate meetings with the university in the next two weeks. But UC officials are not optimistic, in either case, about a break in contract talks. 

If there are no new agreements, university officials suggest that they will declare an “impasse” in both negotiation processes, sparking state intervention. 

“We’ve been negotiating with CUE for a year and a half and it’s time to bring these talks to a close, even if that means impasse proceedings,” said Gayle Cieszkiewicz, executive director of UC labor relations, in a statement issued after the clericals rejected the university offer. 

If the university declares an impasse, in the case of CUE, the state’s Public Employment Relations Board, or PERB, would decide if a true deadlock exists and could then appoint a state mediator. If there is still no resolution after mediation, a PERB panel would make a non-binding “finding of fact” and recommend a contract settlement. If both sides reject the proposal, the university would have the power to impose a final contract. 

The process would be the same for the lecturers, but would skip the mediation phase because a state mediator has already been involved in negotiations. 

CUE’s chief negotiator Margy Wilkinson, criticized the university for moving toward state intervention. 

“We don’t see any need to go impasse when there’s still room for negotiation,” said Wilkinson, arguing that the two sides are close on layoff and workplace safety procedures, among other elements of the contract. 

One issue where the two sides remain far apart is wages. The union is asking for a 15 percent pay hike over two years, while the university is offering 3.5 percent.  

UC officials say they can offer no more because of limits in state funding for salary increases. Union officials say the nine-campus UC system has a $2.3 billion unrestricted reserve that it could tap for salary increases. But UC says the money is labeled “unrestricted” for technical reasons only and is in fact tied up in several obligations. 

Wilkinson said the union, scheduled to meet with the university Nov. 13 and 14 at UC Riverside, is unlikely to change its demand for a 15 percent pay hike in the coming week. The university appears rigid as well. 

“We don’t have any more movement to make on wages,” said university spokesperson Paul Schwartz. 

UC Berkeley clericals and lecturers went on strike in August, claiming that the university has engaged in bad faith bargaining. Lecturers at UC campuses in Santa Cruz, Irvine, Davis, Riverside and Santa Barbara walked off the job in October. Clericals joined in at all the campuses except for Irvine. 

The lecturers’ union has indicated that future strikes are possible. Wilkinson, of the clericals’ union, declined to comment on the possibility of future work stoppages. 

“I just can’t predict the future,” she said. 

The university has argued that the strikes are illegal and counterproductive. 

Contact reporter at scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net