Uc Employees

In 26 years as a UC Irvine librarian, Irene Wechselberg has been a complete stranger to controversy. But the tentacles of the communications revolution, which reach into her rare books department, changed that. Because university policy has failed to keep pace with the rapidly expanding use of computer e-mail, the soft-spoken librarian finds herself caught between an employee's right to privacy and an employer's right to know.

School is out for university teaching assistants, clerical workers and lecturers who have called a two-day strike across the University of California system beginning today. The strike centers on a labor dispute between the UC system and two unions: the Coalition of University Employees, which represents 18,000 clerical workers, and the American Federation of Teachers, which represents 4,000 lecturers hired to teach classes. Both groups are renegotiating expired employment contracts.

University of California employees have given more than nine times as much money to the presidential candidates this year as they did in 2000, with more than 95% of it going to Sen. John F. Kerry. At major colleges and universities nationwide, the Democratic nominee also has been the main beneficiary of employee donations to the presidential race, outpacing President Bush by more than 6 to 1, according to campaign contribution records.

At today's meeting of the UC Board of Regents, Gov. Pete Wilson is expected to paint domestic partner benefits for university employees as too risky or radical for the state of California. IBM is not known for radical social philosophy or risky spending; neither are UC Regent Ward Connerly, Chevron, Yale, Bank of America, American Express or, for that matter, the people of California.

The best paid jobs in state government are at the University of California, particularly those held by the school's premier physicians, several of whom had annual incomes above $500,000 last year. The university president, the chancellors at the nine university campuses, hundreds of physicians and other professors, and scores of top administrators are included on a list of university faculty and staff who were paid more than $100,000 in 1994.

The last issue that prompted Gov. Pete Wilson to take his seat with the University of California Board of Regents was the ban on affirmative action programs that became a launching pad for the governor's presidential campaign. Today, just as his name is resurfacing as a potential White House contender in 2000, Wilson is heading back to the board to force another highly controversial vote--this time to block health and housing benefits for gay partners of university employees.

The University of California Board of Regents on Friday approved early retirement incentives for faculty and staff to help the system "manage effectively through this fiscal crisis," UC President Jack W. Peltason said. Officials estimate that about 4,400 UC employees, about 6% of the full-time work force, may take the early retirements. UC Berkeley faculty are being offered a somewhat different plan than colleagues at the other eight UC campuses.

"Partner Benefits for Gay UC Staff Advance" (Nov. 21) gives the impression that there was no opposition to the speakers who endorsed the plan to give health benefits to the same-sex partners of UC employees. At least two dozen public speakers were heard from, every one of whom spoke for the proposal. I was part of a contingent that vociferously booed speakers who came to the microphone and backed the plan (after they finished their presentation). Regents Chairwoman Meredith Khachigian cut off additional public comments after one hour.

Rank-and-file UC Irvine employees announced Monday that they intend to picket the UCI Medical Center here on Wednesday to protest raises for hospital administrators when other UC employees are being laid off. The protest is aimed at the UC Board of Regents, which on Nov. 19 voted 13 to 5 to increase salaries of some UC hospital administrators by an average of 21% over the next two years.