University of California professors consider walkout

Please clarify. Do UC professors only work 111 days? If 11 days off equals a 10 percent pay cut, then 111 days = 100% pay. Confused.

Rob. It's a bit confusing but UC is using a tiered system based on salary. Most staff will take a 6%-7% pay cut which equals 18-21 days. Senior Faculty take the whole 10% but their furlough days are capped at 11 days. Not that it matters since faculty don't exactly punch a time clock.

Isn't this a little unfair to students paying an increased tuiton for these classes? I pay for my classes and I'd like my prof to attend!

Steph, What has happened is that the Governor has dramatically cut the UC budget, which means that everyone has had to take a pay cut to make ends meet. However, faculty have been told that, despite taking an 8-10% cut in pay, their workload will be the same or more (because support to faculty in the form of teaching assistants has been cut as well).

In a sense, students are getting what they pay for. UC tuition is relatively cheap compared to other state schools and the shortfall has to come from somewhere. One way to make it up is to cut the services provided (which is already happening). Another is to raise fees (also happened). A third would be for the state to provide more funding (not happened). It's unfair to expect faculty, whose salaries are lower than in competing state systems to teach for free and faculty are actively seeking to leave for jobs elsewhere as a result. Thus, if you want more teaching days, you and your fellow students should be writing to their legislators demanding that the system is adequately funded. If all the students in the UC system and some of their parents acted, the situation would be dramatically different and the gradual destruction of a world-class research university that is currently taking place could be avoided.

Should my daughter, a Berkeley junior, be respecting faculty walkout or attending class with the GSIs?

Our family doesn't cross picket lines, but she hates to miss class.

Which faculty walk out? Only full professors? Or graduate student instructors as well?

Are they unionized? Which union? This is really unknown territory.

This is a travesty and a tragedy for California; our state deserves better than this "minority rule" on the state budget and revenue decisions.

mina

One of my professors at Cal says he is not participating in the walkout because he believes its poor politics and Its not fair to his students who are paying for them to be there. However, he did postpone the exam we were suppose to have that day to the next class.