April 19, 2023

The Honorable Ash Kalra
Chair, Assembly Labor & Employment Committee
1020 N Street
Sacramento, CA 95814

RE: ACA 6 (Haney) – Basic Labor Standards For Individuals Performing Work At The University of California Act

Assembly Member Kalra:

The Council of UC Faculty Associations represent tenured and tenure track faculty at the University of California. We support ACA 6: basic labor standards for individuals performing works at the University of California.

While we are very protective of Article IX, Section 9 of the State Constitution, which we feel offers important protections to the educational mission of the University, it is the case that this Section was adopted nearly 150 years ago, before basic labor standards were in place – no equal pay for women, minimum wage, overtime pay, meal and rest breaks, sick leave, prevailing wages, or restrictions on outsourcing of jobs. This outdated provision of the State Constitution has allowed UC to repeatedly prevail in court and exclude those working for them from basic state labor standards. No other workers in California are forced to negotiate for these basic labor standards.

The Legislature and California voters modernized the state’s constitution to ensure every woman’s right to choose, and ACA 6 will do the same for equal pay, and will do so without harming the beneficial aspects of Article IX, Section 9.

We request your consideration of ACA 6.

Respectfully,
Constance Penley President, The Council of UC Faculty Associations and Professor, Department of Film and Media Studies, UCSB

cc: Assembly Labor & Employment Committee