Union Loses Representation Vote by 2 to 1

With a voter turnout of roughly 70 percent, UC administrative professionals decisively said "no" to union representation in the Public Employment Relations Board-conducted election that ended on March 3.

After more than 8,100 ballots had been counted, the vote split approximately two-to-one against the University Professional & Technical Employees (UPTE) union's bid to organize administrative professionals on UC campuses and medical centers. The UC Office of the President reported PERB count totals of 5,309 votes against and 2,818 for representation.

UPTE already speaks for more than 10,000 technical, research, and health care professionals in the UC system. If the election had gone the other way, the union would have more than doubled the number it represented.

UCOP had no official comment on the results.

Rodney Orr, president of UCSB's local of UPTE-CWA, said that his union "will not abandon administrative professionals, and will continue to assist any who ask for our help." UPTE's current focus is on upcoming bargaining sessions with the University over contracts for technical and research professionals.

Orr, a former UCSB engineering lab technician, added that the defeat, in his opinion, could be attributed to several factors: UC got out the vote against a backdrop of budgetary woes that seemed to persuade many employees that a union could not do much for them. Likewise, the new dues or agency fees were a financial concern, especially if people were convinced they would not receive much in the way of return.

Also part of the climate affecting this vote, he felt, was a grueling, nearly five-month strike of grocery workers that had an impact on UC employees. "This probably weighed on people's minds when they voted," said the UPTE official.