UCLA thought they could lay off their IT staff and force them to reapply for their jobs—that is, until UPTE union members fought back
When UCLA announced its "Reimagine IT" program, it was couched in lots of organizational executive speak about "digital transformations," needing to "drive innovation," enabling staff to "reskill and upskill," and reducing "inefficiencies."
If anyone was unclear about what all that meant, UCLA quickly clarified by announcing that everyone would need to reapply for their old jobs, and ominously pushing employees to accept 'severance payments' to resign their positions. Unionized IT workers immediately jumped into action.
Under UPTE's TX agreement, UCLA cannot impose changes to the working conditions of UPTE workers (such as a requirement to reapply for a job you already have) without giving the union notice and bargaining over those changes and their effects on employees.
Our union issued a cease and desist letter to UCLA, forcing management to retract its demand that UPTE-represented workers reapply for their jobs. Unfortunately, non-union staff are still required to reapply and are subject to pressure to accept a payout to resign.
"When the announcement was made, there was a lot of fear from our members in ITS. It has been great to see our ability to show management that they can't just do what they want," said Max Belasco, UCLA IT worker. "That is the power we can exert when IT workers are communicating with each other, standing up for one another, and having our coworkers' backs. Unfortunately, our nonunion colleagues lack those protections and rights, making them subject to whatever unilateral decisions UCLA makes. That's a good reminder of why we need to always be on the lookout for management moving union job titles or union work over to nonunion positions—it weakens our collective strength, and strips people of lots of rights and protections that they may not realize they have under the UPTE contract."
UPTE members are now using their rights to demand a seat at the table on how UCLA plans to 'Reimagine IT' and our jobs. We have exercised our rights under the Higher Education Employer Employee Relations Act (HEERA) and filed a formal Request for Information (RFI) to understand what UCLA is already planning, and unionized IT workers will have the opportunity to meet with management and set our own agenda with our own questions on the process.
We are the experts on how IT functions at UC. Many of our IT departments are already in need of more staff and resources, and any restructuring of operations made without our input will have a negative impact on the students, colleagues, and community we serve.
If UCLA wants to reorganize our work, they need to meet with us first. UCLA IT workers will continue to organize to protect our jobs and the important services we provide.