Wednesday, November 7, 2007
UCSD labor-management meeting -- November 2
The UC San Diego local labor-management meeting took place on Friday,
November 2. Elliot Kanter and Jennifer Reiswig presented the concerns
of the UCSD librarians. Mike Rotkin (Unit 17 Chief Negotiator), Karen
Sawislak (UC-AFT Executive Director) and Maria Tillmanns (UC-AFT UCSD
Field Representative) also attended for the union.
Management representatives were Deanna Dudley and Myron Okada from
UCOP Labor Relations, Kerry Donnell and Lori Trofemuk from UCSD Labor
Relations, Maureen Harden, Director of Library Administrative
Services, and Maria Din, Library HR Manager.
After introductions, both management and the union expressed their
appreciation for the opportunity to come together to discuss Unit 17
issues at UCSD.
Maureen Harden began by observing that UCSD in in the midst of
enormous growth. By 2011, the student load on the campus will be
equal to that of UCB and UCLA. The librarian ranks have gone from 45
FTE to 60 FTE in less than 10 years. In the face of this
kind of rapid growth, the campus struggles to recruit new talent and
to retain and provide adequate professional development opportunities
to current staff.
UCSD works hard to maintain a collaborative relationship with its
librarians. The local CAPA is very busy and works extremely hard to
provide quick turnaround on reviews, so the campus can make
competitive offers. The E-Board of CAPA meets quarterly with the UL
and the AULs and UL regularly attend LAUC meetings.
The Library works constantly to live up to its Statement of Values,
which reads as follows: "the UCSD Libraries value responsiveness to
users, innovation and creativity, and strong teamwork and
communication. The Libraries value a workplace environment that
encourages continuous improvement in the quality of our services and
that fosters the career development and professional growth of our
staff."
Even though Library management works hard to be responsive to the
needs of staff, people do leave for new jobs because they can receive
much higher salaries at other local institutions. Because of the high
cost of living, UCSD struggles to attract new librarians to the area.
The UCSD librarians began by stressing the positive aspects of working
at UCSD. UCSD librarians do not have an adversarial relationship with
management. LAUC works effectively to resolve many important issues.
People at UCSD do not feel micromanaged. Still, significant areas of
concern remain.
The number 1 issue is salary. UC librarians earn less than public
librarians at institutions at all levels in California. UCSD
librarians have lost colleagues to the CSUs and local community
colleges, where the new positions paid upwards of $10,000/year above
the UC salary.
The prestige of being at UC doesn't pay the rent. This salary lag
makes it hard to recruit and retain librarians from elsewhere in the
country. Because of salary problems, UCSD has many failed
recruitments. Vacant positions create more work for the librarians
who remain, who are always taking on extra work on a "temporary"
basis.
Housing assistance programs, childcare assistance programs, or support
for tuition all could help alleviate salary pressures. But at UCSD,
only a very limited childcare subsidy is available to librarians.
The second issue of great concern is workload. It takes time and
enormous effort to be a successful librarian in a time of great
innovation in the delivery of services. People need to keep up their
existing skills and continually (and rapidly) master new technologies.
The constantgrowth at the campus means that there are more people to serve
and more programs to develop. Instruction is a bigger and bigger job.
New positions have been added in the library, but usually these are
matched to new needs -- i.e., a librarian to staff a new school of
pharmacy or a new post for undergraduate services due to a
consolidation of divisions. Despite the growing number of FTE,
many positions remain vacant (which in turn creates more work for those
in a short-staffed library).
The third consensus issue among the UCSD librarians is support for
professional development. While UCSD librarians are funded far better
than most of their UC colleagues (they receive $2200/yr), the level of
support still barely covers two meetings per year.
UCSD increased professional development funding to its librarians as a
result of a LAUC study that showed that previous levels were
inadequate. As of this year, if an individual librarian does not
spend his or her entire allotment of $2200 (about 70% do spend the
entire fund), the remainder will go into a pool and other librarians
can apply for additional funding to defer costs they may have incurred
beyond their own $2200.
Apart from financial support, librarians at UCSD simply do not have
enough time to take on research, writing, activities for professional
organizations, and other academic work. More and more, their
Criterion 1 duties fill up their day, and other activities are pushed
into evenings and weekends.
Some access to sabbatical would help to carve out time for creative
academic work. Some telecommuting is allowed, but this must be worked
out with your supervisor.
Finally, the UCSD librarians touched briefly on a few other areas of
concern. First, they expressed a wish for greater flexibility in
determining alternative work arrangements during holiday closures.
Second, they made a strong statement that librarian jobs should remain
in the library series. Moves into the MSP series have not happened as
yet at UCSD, but some may be imminent -- and this is an area of
concern, because this could erode morale and the sense of fairness and
community that librarians now share as professional colleagues who
work under the same system of rules and expectations. Third, some
librarians would like to see greater rights to challenge the
determinations of management when there are disagreements over work
schedules, alternative work arrangements, attendance at conferences or workshops,
and other issues that concern how librarians choose (or cannot choose) to spend their time.
UCSD does not hire librarians at levels inappropriate to their level of
achievement. Management is concerned to maintain to a sense of equity
and fairness within the librarian ranks. Hiring begins at the Assistant Librarian I
level, if a new MLIS has no previous library work experience. Most new hires
come in with some credit for previous library experience and start at Asst. II. No
new MLIS is appointed at a step above Asst. II. It is especially difficult to bring mid-career
librarians to San Diego, because of the cost of living.
This was an extremely informative and substantive discussion. Special
thanks to Elliot and Jenny for their clear and effective presentations
on behalf of the unit at UCSD.
The next local labor-management meetings are:
UCLA, November 7
UCSB, November 13
Karen Sawislak
UC-AFT Executive Director
November 2. Elliot Kanter and Jennifer Reiswig presented the concerns
of the UCSD librarians. Mike Rotkin (Unit 17 Chief Negotiator), Karen
Sawislak (UC-AFT Executive Director) and Maria Tillmanns (UC-AFT UCSD
Field Representative) also attended for the union.
Management representatives were Deanna Dudley and Myron Okada from
UCOP Labor Relations, Kerry Donnell and Lori Trofemuk from UCSD Labor
Relations, Maureen Harden, Director of Library Administrative
Services, and Maria Din, Library HR Manager.
After introductions, both management and the union expressed their
appreciation for the opportunity to come together to discuss Unit 17
issues at UCSD.
Maureen Harden began by observing that UCSD in in the midst of
enormous growth. By 2011, the student load on the campus will be
equal to that of UCB and UCLA. The librarian ranks have gone from 45
FTE to 60 FTE in less than 10 years. In the face of this
kind of rapid growth, the campus struggles to recruit new talent and
to retain and provide adequate professional development opportunities
to current staff.
UCSD works hard to maintain a collaborative relationship with its
librarians. The local CAPA is very busy and works extremely hard to
provide quick turnaround on reviews, so the campus can make
competitive offers. The E-Board of CAPA meets quarterly with the UL
and the AULs and UL regularly attend LAUC meetings.
The Library works constantly to live up to its Statement of Values,
which reads as follows: "the UCSD Libraries value responsiveness to
users, innovation and creativity, and strong teamwork and
communication. The Libraries value a workplace environment that
encourages continuous improvement in the quality of our services and
that fosters the career development and professional growth of our
staff."
Even though Library management works hard to be responsive to the
needs of staff, people do leave for new jobs because they can receive
much higher salaries at other local institutions. Because of the high
cost of living, UCSD struggles to attract new librarians to the area.
The UCSD librarians began by stressing the positive aspects of working
at UCSD. UCSD librarians do not have an adversarial relationship with
management. LAUC works effectively to resolve many important issues.
People at UCSD do not feel micromanaged. Still, significant areas of
concern remain.
The number 1 issue is salary. UC librarians earn less than public
librarians at institutions at all levels in California. UCSD
librarians have lost colleagues to the CSUs and local community
colleges, where the new positions paid upwards of $10,000/year above
the UC salary.
The prestige of being at UC doesn't pay the rent. This salary lag
makes it hard to recruit and retain librarians from elsewhere in the
country. Because of salary problems, UCSD has many failed
recruitments. Vacant positions create more work for the librarians
who remain, who are always taking on extra work on a "temporary"
basis.
Housing assistance programs, childcare assistance programs, or support
for tuition all could help alleviate salary pressures. But at UCSD,
only a very limited childcare subsidy is available to librarians.
The second issue of great concern is workload. It takes time and
enormous effort to be a successful librarian in a time of great
innovation in the delivery of services. People need to keep up their
existing skills and continually (and rapidly) master new technologies.
The constantgrowth at the campus means that there are more people to serve
and more programs to develop. Instruction is a bigger and bigger job.
New positions have been added in the library, but usually these are
matched to new needs -- i.e., a librarian to staff a new school of
pharmacy or a new post for undergraduate services due to a
consolidation of divisions. Despite the growing number of FTE,
many positions remain vacant (which in turn creates more work for those
in a short-staffed library).
The third consensus issue among the UCSD librarians is support for
professional development. While UCSD librarians are funded far better
than most of their UC colleagues (they receive $2200/yr), the level of
support still barely covers two meetings per year.
UCSD increased professional development funding to its librarians as a
result of a LAUC study that showed that previous levels were
inadequate. As of this year, if an individual librarian does not
spend his or her entire allotment of $2200 (about 70% do spend the
entire fund), the remainder will go into a pool and other librarians
can apply for additional funding to defer costs they may have incurred
beyond their own $2200.
Apart from financial support, librarians at UCSD simply do not have
enough time to take on research, writing, activities for professional
organizations, and other academic work. More and more, their
Criterion 1 duties fill up their day, and other activities are pushed
into evenings and weekends.
Some access to sabbatical would help to carve out time for creative
academic work. Some telecommuting is allowed, but this must be worked
out with your supervisor.
Finally, the UCSD librarians touched briefly on a few other areas of
concern. First, they expressed a wish for greater flexibility in
determining alternative work arrangements during holiday closures.
Second, they made a strong statement that librarian jobs should remain
in the library series. Moves into the MSP series have not happened as
yet at UCSD, but some may be imminent -- and this is an area of
concern, because this could erode morale and the sense of fairness and
community that librarians now share as professional colleagues who
work under the same system of rules and expectations. Third, some
librarians would like to see greater rights to challenge the
determinations of management when there are disagreements over work
schedules, alternative work arrangements, attendance at conferences or workshops,
and other issues that concern how librarians choose (or cannot choose) to spend their time.
UCSD does not hire librarians at levels inappropriate to their level of
achievement. Management is concerned to maintain to a sense of equity
and fairness within the librarian ranks. Hiring begins at the Assistant Librarian I
level, if a new MLIS has no previous library work experience. Most new hires
come in with some credit for previous library experience and start at Asst. II. No
new MLIS is appointed at a step above Asst. II. It is especially difficult to bring mid-career
librarians to San Diego, because of the cost of living.
This was an extremely informative and substantive discussion. Special
thanks to Elliot and Jenny for their clear and effective presentations
on behalf of the unit at UCSD.
The next local labor-management meetings are:
UCLA, November 7
UCSB, November 13
Karen Sawislak
UC-AFT Executive Director
# posted by Karen Sawislak : 11:11 AM
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