November 14, 2021

President Michael V. Drake
Office of the President
University of California
1111 Franklin St., 12th Floor
Oakland, CA 94607

Delivered via Email to: president@ucop.edu

Dear President Drake,

We are again writing to you as the leadership of the Council of UC Faculty Associations, CUCFA, the systemwide organization of Senate faculty that created the Pledge of Solidarity with our Lecturer Colleagues. Now that UC-AFT has signaled its intent to strike over UC’s unfair labor practices, we wanted to alert you that over 800 Senate faculty, from all 10 UC campuses, have pledged their solidarity with our lecturer colleagues, close to 90% of whom have pledged to respect a UC-AFT picket (list of Senate faculty who have pledged to respect the UC-AFT strike picket).

Many Senate faculty who observed bargaining sessions over the last two years have been dismayed and embarrassed by the constant disrespect, intentional misdirection, stalling, and bad-faith negotiation by UCOP lawyers, negotiators, and campus-based labor relations officers. We saw firsthand UCOP’s unfair labor practices–all done in your name–that led to this week’s strike.

Respecting a picket line is an act of solidarity by an individual employee in support of other employees on strike; it is an individual act of conscience answering to the lecturers’ call for solidarity. UC-AFT has stated that respecting their picket means not coming to campus except to join the picket line, not teaching in person or online, not responding to work-related emails, and not conducting UC-related service duties.

UCOP will be responsible for the disruption to campus operations if they do not settle this contract. UC-AFT lecturers teach 30% of credit courses at UC. We fight together because our colleagues deserve better, and because UC students deserve a high-quality education at an institution that does not treat its workers as disposable.

We ask you to return to negotiations and engage in good faith bargaining.

Sincerely,
Constance Penley, CUCFA President, Professor of Film and Media Studies UC Santa Barbara
Wendy Matsumura, CUCFA Vice President, Associate Professor of History UC San Diego
For the CUCFA Executive Board