University of California Librarians Bargain For New Contract

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University of California Librarians Bargain For New Contract
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By Yolanda Blue

On April 17 the University of California Librarians will begin contract negotiations at UC Berkeley. Your Librarians ask for our community to support their contract negotiations so they can better support all students, faculty, and staff at UCSB. A link to our online petition is listed below we appreciate your support.

The University of California is a World Class institution of research, scholarship, and education. UC Libraries are at the heart of every campus and UC Librarians provide crucial services and expertise and are tireless advocates of the UCSB campus community. 

The Librarians’ new contract proposals include:

• Salary parity with other public universities and peer institutions, as a means of recruitment and retention. Over the past five years, UCSB Library alone has lost numerous talented early and mid-career librarians who have left UCSB for other universities with a higher salary and lower cost of living. High librarian turnover creates constant staffing and expertise vacuums which seriously impair core library functions, and limit the quality and extent of services the library is able to provide to faculty and students

• Adequate professional development funding. Professional development funding is essential to UC Librarians’ abilities to fulfill the advancement and promotion requirements of their positions. UC Librarians should not be forced to take on unsustainable financial burdens in efforts to meet the promotion requirements of their institution. 

• Recognition of librarians’ academic freedom and right to copyright ownership. Like Faculty, UC Librarians conduct research, publish, and contribute to the scholarly record. Like Faculty, UC Librarians should have institutional guarantees regarding their scholarship. 

• Right to sabbatical leave. Many UC Librarians are engaged in rigorous academic scholarship for the betterment of their institution and their profession.

• Right of access to Faculty housing programs. Costs of living, especially housing costs, are a serious issue throughout the state of California. The University of California should provide housing support and housing resources for all employees.

A world class institution should provide its librarians equitable compensation and recognition.

Our petition:  https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/uclibrarians

Follow us on https://ucaftlibrarians.org/ and https://www.facebook.com/ucaft/

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lisssa
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Apr 16, 2018 02:16 PM
University of California Librarians Bargain For New Contract

Btw: "University Librarian" is the title of the HEAD of the Library, it is equivalent to a Dean, and they have a six figure salary to go with it. Assistant/Associate University Librarians are also administrators with high salaries and are not part of the Union. The union represents the rest of the Librarians who work in the UCs. Current salary scale for Average Joe UC Librarians is here: https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/1617/1617-librarian-series-issue/t26b-1-1-17.pdf A new librarian, right out of master's program would start as "Assistant Librarian" making between $47K-$59K annually, then work up to "Associate Librarian" and eventually "Librarian" over the course of their careers. To get raises librarians go up for review every 2 or 3 years depending on rank, as long as you don't fail your review. There are no regular Cost of Living increases. The very top end of full "Librarian" salary (not administrators) in the UC system hits $116K --and you have to achieve the library equivalent of sainthood to reach that rank. Many librarians stay in the "Associate Librarian" rank for the rest of their careers where the max salary is currently $83.5K. Here in Santa Barbara County, are these livable wages? And for "non-academic staff" in the UCs, the pay situation is often even worse.

Factotum
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Apr 17, 2018 10:44 AM
University of California Librarians Bargain For New Contract

Stop lying about the compensation packages tax payers are asked to fund each "librarian". If you don't like the take-home pay (salary) then talk to your unions who are taking the rest of the fully funded compensation package you get and start your own 401K and buy an Obamacare health plan instead. You, as a government employee in our public university, are just too darn expensive and no longer are considered either a public servant or a value to society. We are tired of the nonsense coming out of the UC system and the UC employee greed that knows no end.

LibGeek
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Apr 16, 2018 01:14 PM
University of California Librarians Bargain For New Contract

I took a 22% pay cut to become a librarian at the UC, coming from the CSU. Do a Google search for LAUC Librarians' Salary Scales to see what UCSB librarians are paid under section 26-B. The person trolling this conversation is using data on non-represented administrative librarians.

Factotum
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Apr 17, 2018 10:46 AM
University of California Librarians Bargain For New Contract

You made a choice. Plus there is very little competition for librarians out of the public sector nor did you factor in your full benefits. Stop lying about this if want to fairly bargain. We taxpayers are done with this and what the UC system has become today.

Factotum
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Apr 17, 2018 10:53 AM
University of California Librarians Bargain For New Contract

Transparent California is the only source to use when viewing what taxpayers are paying each government worker. They tell you the full compensation package, not just the intentionally cherry picked "salary". How the full compensation packages is allocated between salary, health benefits and pension contributions is between the employee and their union. It is to their advantage to get the benefits tax-free and make the taxable "salary" look as low as possible. But that i their internal issue - our only concern as taxpayers is the entire compensation package because that is what we have to pay for. All of it. And even worse, since all government employees were over-promised lavish pensions (Transparent California discloses those too), we are now on the hook to make up for all unfunded pension liabilities now and into the endless future because all the government employees have fought every possible public pension reform. These people are organized shake-down artists with one goal only - take your money so you have less and they have more.

lisssa
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Apr 16, 2018 02:32 PM
University of California Librarians Bargain For New Contract

A University Librarian is the head of the library, equivalent to a Dean. They are administrators. The Union represents and is bargaining on behalf of the non-administrator librarians who make up the bulk professional workforce in the UC Libraries. Average Joe UC Librarian salary range is $49K to $116K (if you are a saint). You'll find that most rank and file librarians in the UCs make well BELOW $100K. see the full salary range here: https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/1617/1617-librarian-series-issue/t26b-1-1-17.pdf

lisssa
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Apr 16, 2018 02:32 PM
University of California Librarians Bargain For New Contract

A University Librarian is the head of the library, equivalent to a Dean. They are administrators. The Union represents and is bargaining on behalf of the non-administrator librarians who make up the bulk professional workforce in the UC Libraries. Average Joe UC Librarian salary range is $49K to $116K (if you are a saint). You'll find that most rank and file librarians in the UCs make well BELOW $100K. see the full salary range here: https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/1617/1617-librarian-series-issue/t26b-1-1-17.pdf

mm1970
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Apr 16, 2018 11:15 AM
University of California Librarians Bargain For New Contract

That was interesting. Everyone on page 1 that is a "UNIV LIBRARIAN" makes more than $144k regular pay. (I'm excluding benefits for the discussion, though univ benefits are pretty generous). I went to page two and randomly picked a name. Bachelor's, master's degrees, about my age (tiny bit younger), making a bit more than I am salary-wise, living here in Santa Barbara. So, seems like a fair salary to me already (and it's below $150k, for the record). I also noticed about an 8k raise in one calendar year. Also, I saw very few salaries that would indicate a part time position. Librarians are actually well trained in digital media, research, staffing, budgeting, IT, use of the digital searches, databases. The digital information age is great, but it's not that useful unless you know how to access the information quickly and with accuracy. Which is what librarians are trained to do.

mm1970
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Apr 16, 2018 11:16 AM
University of California Librarians Bargain For New Contract

That was interesting. Everyone on page 1 that is a "UNIV LIBRARIAN" makes more than $144k regular pay. (I'm excluding benefits for the discussion, though univ benefits are pretty generous). I went to page two and randomly picked a name. Bachelor's, master's degrees, about my age (tiny bit younger), making a bit more than I am salary-wise, living here in Santa Barbara. So, seems like a fair salary to me already (and it's below $150k, for the record). I also noticed about an 8k raise in one calendar year. Also, I saw very few salaries that would indicate a part time position. Librarians are actually well trained in digital media, research, staffing, budgeting, IT, use of the digital searches, databases. The digital information age is great, but it's not that useful unless you know how to access the information quickly and with accuracy. Which is what librarians are trained to do.

Factotum
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Apr 15, 2018 05:27 PM
University of California Librarians Bargain For New Contract

Nothing is ever enough when it come to the complaints registered by the unionzed workforce. Ever notice that? People need to choose their professions more carefully so they are not dependent upon taxpayers, who are not interested in always being asked to give these workers more money than they are making themselves. It is always the employee's choice when they have only a part-time job. What are they doing with the other part of the time they now have off? It is folly to assume a part-time workers should be paid full time wage just because they chose to work part time Santa Barbara. UC librarians are paid $150,000 (on average) a year and that is more than enough to live in Santa Barbara. Tell your unions you want more of that $150,000 as take home pay, instead spending it on deluxe benefits. Taxpayers pay the full $150,000 for each Librarian, regardless. Drop your union dues and there is an automatic $1000 a year raise.

Factotum
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Apr 14, 2018 11:24 PM
University of California Librarians Bargain For New Contract

Transparent California tells you exactly what each Librarian makes, by name and by position. Don't let them misrepresent their take-home pay and ignore the massive benefits package their unions get for them. Look at what each librarian costs the taxpayers in total, because they want you to pay them even more. Why do we have so many librarians anyway today - this is the digital information age and most of them should have been phased out a decade ago.

Factotum
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Apr 14, 2018 03:24 PM
University of California Librarians Bargain For New Contract

Regular librarians on average are paid $150,000 and Associate Librarians are paid on average $100,000. Their union decides how much of that amount goes to benefit packages and how much goes to take-home pay, after heath insurance, pension contributions and other perks are paid out of the total amount. Because of irresponsible union negotiations, more of that total amount now must cover increasing pension contributions. This is what they call a "pay cut" or a demand for "more money", but it is neither. They get the current full pension when they retire., They are just asked now to pay their fair share towards it since their unions over-promised them about two decades ago.. Much as any of us do with our own retirement plans. In order to get what we want when we retire, we invest more of our current take-home pay to get there. Time to finally say no to always increasing public employee demands and ask them to stop distorting the facts at every new contract negotiation. The last thing we should do is "support them" in their constant taxpayer shakedowns.

Howard Roark
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Apr 14, 2018 10:26 AM
University of California Librarians Bargain For New Contract

It's amusing how bureaucrats use an example of someone leaving for a better job at a better wage as some great irreplaceable loss when it's just someone serious about their career taking a better opportunity. Now they want a raise, free tuition, and paid time off to do their thing in a house provided by the tax payers. They left out a new Prius from the list.

Factotum
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Apr 14, 2018 03:30 PM
University of California Librarians Bargain For New Contract

A job is a job. Take it or leave it. It is not a warm, fuzzy, emotional incubator, funded at the taxpayers expense. It is a job. If you cannot appreciate one of these extremely well paid jobs with their gold-plated public benefits, do leave. Entitlement resentment found peculiarly among government workers is what is corrosive to workplace morale.

Factotum
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Apr 14, 2018 09:03 AM
University of California Librarians Bargain For New Contract

Asking for community support? We are the taxpayers, who have to pay for what you want. Why would we support your demands for increased salaries and benefit, that far exceed what most other people can't even dream about. Time for the UC system to get a reality check; not a blank check every time you threaten to strike for your own self-interests..

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