Readers of this newsletter may recall that in 1994-95 the
University instituted a three-month offset of the payment of
faculty and staff cost of living increases (COLAs) from the July
1st beginning of the State’s fiscal year. As we documented
in an earlier article, the effect of this offset is a reduction
in the annual take-home pay of faculty members that can range
from ca. $450 for Assistant Professors to as much as $1,000 for
high-step Full Professors. For academic year appointees these
losses can actually persist into retirement.
The Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA) recently detailed
these findings in a letter to Professor Judith Gruber (Political
Science, UCB), the current Chair of the University Committee on
Faculty Welfare (UCFW). In that letter UCFW was urged “...to
take a leadership role in abolishing the COLA delay; an outcome
that would immediately benefit virtually every UC employee, not
just the Senate faculty, while costing the State very little. It
was further stated that CUCFA “...would be pleased to join
with UCFW in pursuit of this objective, and to take advantage of
(its) independence and (its) contacts to lobby the matter
vigorously in the Legislature and in the Governor’s office.”
In her reply Professor Gruber acknowledged that CUCFA had “...rais(ed)
an important issue, though unfortunately at a difficult budgetary
moment.” She stated that the UCFW agenda for May was already
set and very full, but that she would “...try to have a
preliminary conversation in June, time permitting.” She
further observed that “There is a virtue in waiting until
fall since there is likely to be a considerable turnover in the
committee and it is unlikely that this matter can be resolved in
a single meeting.” On this last point we very much agree
with her. This battle will probably go on for a very long time
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