Dear Colleague,
As I’m sure you know, the University of California Office of the President has reached agreements with the UAW on contracts with the Academic Researchers, Postdoctoral Scholars, Academic Student Employees, and Graduate Student Researchers. Regardless of your personal positions regarding the strike, you collectively have supported all of our students admirably, and I thank you for your heroic efforts in the face of yet another disruption of our teaching, research, and service.
We are now in the unpleasant situation of being required to manage the immediate aftermath of the strike. The University of California is legally required to align compensation with work effort provided to the institution, consistent with the award of federal grant funds and the allocation of State funds committed to the University as a public trust. These obligations are set forth in Uniform Guidance, 2 Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) Part 200, Art. IX, Sec. 9 of the California Constitution, and Regents Policy 7303: Policy on the Services Obligations and Leaves of Absence.
As you know, a strike is a work stoppage, meaning an employee has decided to stop performing their job duties in support of a particular cause or issue. Because the employee is not performing their job duties, they are not eligible for wages that are paid in exchange for work performed.
Some Senate faculty members exercised their legal right to participate in the strike. However, in accordance with legal requirements entailed in the University’s commitment to the responsible management of both state and federal public funds, if you decided to withhold your labor, your wages must be aligned with the labor withheld. Accordingly, if you did not perform your work or job duties that you were scheduled/required to perform between November 14, 2022, through December 23, 2022, please download the attestation form here and submit it to academicpersonnel@ucmerced.edu. To be clear, you need to submit this form only if you withheld labor. If you have nothing to report, please ignore this request.
The deadline to submit the completed attestation form is January 23, 2023. This information will be used to verify pay eligibility and ensure appropriate payroll processing.
I’m sure this request will raise many questions, in particular questions about what constitutes “withholding of labor.” The Office of the President has prepared a FAQ sheet, which I attach to this letter and which is available here. The definitions are quite specific and do not pertain to expressions of support, including picketing, but only to scheduled, required work. If the FAQs do not satisfactorily answer your questions, please contact either me or the interim Vice Provost for Academic Personnel, Thomas Hansford.
I’m sorry to push this out to you so late and with such a short turn-around time, but it was the subject of intense, protracted negotiation at the Office of the President with a wide range of stakeholders. Thank you again, for your dedication to our students, and wishing for a calm semester,
Sincerely,
Gregg Camfield
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost
