February 8, 2008

Around the UC

AFSCME rejects UC's contract proposal

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union has rejected UC's proposal to extend through June 2008 the current contract for UC's more than 7,000 service employees, according to a Jan. 30 UC news release.

The proposal would have provided for approximately $2.8 million in wage increases for employees in a variety of positions throughout the UC system.

UC has been bargaining with AFSCME over a new contract for UC service employees since October 2007. The previous agreement expired on Jan. 30. The five-month contract extension would have allowed further negotiation on a number of important issues still on the table, such as wages and health and retirement benefits.

AFSCME has filed a request for impasse with the Public Employment Relations Board. The university will respond to the union's request next week.

More information: atyourservice.ucop.edu/employees/policies/labor_relations/index.html

Berkeley hires first sustainability director

Lisa McNeilly began work as UC Berkeley's first director of sustainability on Jan. 30. The position is the first of its kind in the UC system.

In coordinating campus sustainability initiatives, McNeilly will support the efforts of the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Sustainability, the Cal Climate Action Partnership, the Berkeley Environmental Alumni Network, the award-winning Berkeley Green Campus Program, as well as the work of Environment, Health, and Safety, the green-building and energy-conservation programs in Facilities Services, the sustainability manager at the Office of the President, and other campus units, student organizations and relevant public agencies. McNeily formerly served as northern Arizona regional program director for the Nature Conservancy, among other jobs. She holds a master's degree in public policy from Princeton.

Saving for college education boosted

The UC Early Academic Outreach Program, ScholarShare and their 529 Plan program manager, Fidelity Investments, will partner to fund EAOP's Family Inclusion Initiative, UC officals announced this week. The Family Inclusion Initiative consists of a series of workshops and activities designed to empower parents to advise students on their college-preparation path, thereby increasing student academic achievement.

The pilot program in the regions of San Diego, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area provides culturally relevant, multilingual workshops and activities throughout the academic year that teach parents key information about the college eligibility, financial aid and the admissions process. The EAOP Family Inclusion Initiative is a partnership designed to help families boost scholastic achievement.

Parent involvement in children's education is positively related to achievement, and EAOP Family Inclusion Initiative events give parents with little or no college experience the information they need to guide students along a college path. EAOP, ScholarShare and Fidelity Investments believe the EAOP Family Inclusion Initiative is a vital strategy for supporting parents in their efforts to close achievement gaps in California.

The ScholarShare College Savings Plan is California's 529 Plan, sponsored by the ScholarShare Investment Board, an agency of the state of California, and managed by Fidelity Investments. The plan provides parents, grandparents and others a tax-advantaged way to save for a child's college education.

For more information: www.eaop.org

Audit backs claims of fired UCSF dean

An outside audit has found financial irregularities at the medical school of the University of California at San Francisco, backing the claims of David Kessler, who was fired last December as dean, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The finances of the School of Medicine have been in dispute since the Kessler firing. He had complained repeatedly about alleged financial irregularities in the school. A former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Kessler said his dismissal was prompted by these complaints.