Remember, everyone, the strike doesn't begin until Monday! Blog posts are still due.
If you are following the news, you know that UC has received a court order to suspend the strike. UC has also emailed its employeees to inform them that "Staff who do not report to work and are not authorized to be absent may be subject to disciplinary action."
You can see UC's press release here.
The union argues that the strike is still legal because advance notice was given, and is planning to carry on with the strike. Yesterday the union uploaded the ten-minute video below, entitled "Facing Poverty at UC."
Here are some related news articles:
-"Union plans to strike despite judge-ordered injunction" (Daily Cal)
-UC workers to strike despite judge's order (San Francisco Chronicle)
UC Human Resources has a number of documents pertaining to the strike, including the full text (.pdf) of yesterday's court order, located here.
Some questions:
-What kinds of arguments and persuasive tactics does each side use?
-How does each side communicate with the public?
-How is each side represented in the articles above?
-Consider the following statement by UC: "UC is offering $6.8 million in salary increases with an option to reopen wage negotiations once the State budget is passed." (source) Now consider how the same offer is represented by a newspaper article: "UC's latest offer to service care workers increases minimum hourly rates from $10.28 to $11.50 to $12 depending upon the location." What impressions do these figures give? What's the difference between representing workers' wages as a lump sum and as an hourly wage?
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3 comments:
When I saw the line "UC is offering $6.8 million in salary increases," I was like: "Wow, that's a big number. Why are they still going to strike?"
But when I saw "UC's latest offer to service care workers increases minimum hourly rates from $10.28 to $11.50 to $12 depending upon the location," I was like: "hmmmm...gas price has increased more than $1.72/gallon, rice price increased more than $10/bag, even utlities bills have increased -- how can they only incrase that little in salary? only $10 - $13 increase per day...to pay for the gas?"
Using a sum to represent the increase of wages is like a way to trick the public.
I agree with Wendy. Big numbers can be deceiving, especially when it comes to money. I mean, $6.8 million seems like a lot, but if you divide that amount up among the thousands of people who work under the UC, and then divide it again by the number of hourse they work every week, it's really nothing.
I understand that our economy is living in crunch time and that the school has been making cuts in funding here and there, but it seems to me that only certain people are making sacrifices. I mean, our newest president is earning more than previous presidents? That says something.
I am completely astounded that UC workers are currently only making $10.28 and it wasn't until I was able to put that number into perspective that I realized just how bad that is.
Earlier today I stopped at In & Out and I noticed a sign that they were hiring...starting at $11.00 an hour...Is that crazy? How is it that the people who play a big part in making our education possible are making less than the people who are asking us if we want fries with that?
I for one hope that the strike happens and that it sends a big wake up call to the UC administrators.
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