UAW Local 2865 2070 Allston Way, Suite 205 Berkeley, CA 94704 Phone: 510-549-3863 Fax: 510-549-2514 Email: [email protected] Dear UC Merced Administration, We are writing to you to express a concern of great severity to us, in which we hope you share the sentiment. It has been brought to our attention that official notices of teaching assistantship appointments and subsequent supplemental course information in Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts (SSHA) for Fall 2013 were received the week Fall semester began (August 22nd) which is 7 days before the beginning of instruction (August 29th). This is not in compliance with Article 2 of our union contract, which states if appointments are not available by commencement of the academic year, ASEs shall be notified no less than thirty 30 days before the start of the appointment. This is matter of that great importance to us. Many students, particularly international students and students with families, rely on the information included in the notice such as the effective dates, range of hours, and weekly schedules for appointments in order to plan out their semesters for things such as travel, childcare, and research obligations. Without advanced notification, it is extremely difficult for graduate students to plan appropriately for their semesters. This could include missing deadlines to register for childcare, needing to rebook travel at great personal expense, and even missing classes or meetings that have already been scheduled This letter is to make you aware that we are filing a grievance because, by union contract, late appointment notices are to be the exception, not the rule. We agreed in the current contract that across the University of California campuses the goal would be official notice before commencement of the academic year and that 30 days would be a minimal practice except under exceptional circumstances (see Article 2). This has not been the case for Fall 2013 along with previous years. We request that you remedy the situation immediately by sending letters to department chairs detailing the goals of the contract article on notice and asking for compliance. We ask that you please copy the union on these letters. On behalf of Teaching Assistants, Eric M. Chiu (UC Merced UAW 2865 Unit Chair)