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The decision to close campus facilities in the UC system during the holidays has left certain union employees with the choice of either taking unpaid leave or using their vacation days for the forced days off.

The university plans to close certain buildings on campus as it did for the first time last year, in order to save money on utilities.

To compensate for the lack of raises this year and for some of the forced days off, the UC initiated the bonus paid leave program, which compensates employees with two additional paid days off during the holidays.

The paid days off will automatically be given to university employees who do not belong to a union, but the law requires unions to reach an agreement with the UC in order to benefit from the paid leave.

Some unions are concerned that the paid leave comes with the condition of no raises, or because two days of paid leave is insufficient to solve the problem of closure for two weeks.

Noel Van Nyhuis, a spokesman for the UC Office of the President, said the system-wide negotiations for the paid days off have been successful with all unions except for the union for University Professional and Technical Employees and Coalition of University Employees, with which they have not yet reached an agreement.

The unions disagreed with the condition of having to give up the possibility of negotiating raises for this year, but Van Nyhuis said raises are impossible given the UC’s budgetary situation, and that the paid days off were a one-time program to reward employees.

“We understand nobody likes to not get raises, but given our budgetary circumstances we wanted to be able to do something,” he said.

Van Nyhuis said the UC wants to give all workers the days off, but that a resolution has not been reached with UPTE and CUE because they are not willing to give up raises that would be retroactive.

“Such a position is not only unrealistic given the university’s budget, but would also not be equitable to other employees who have not received pay increases,” he said.

Rita Kern, the president of UPTE, which represents university researchers, technical employees and health care workers, said the union’s contract expired in September, and has not yet been renewed because the workers voted against giving up negotiations for raises.

Kern said the two days of paid leave being offered by the UC constitute less than one percent of their salary, and does not keep up with inflation.

Kern said she believes the university has the money, and is telling workers they are not the priority. Funds left over when employees leave or are replaced with lower-paid workers could provide a source for raises, she said, adding that the UC has told them that they were investigating the possibility.

“We feel like we deserve more. We’re working very hard because there have been budget cuts. People that are left are doing more work to cover for people that are gone,” she said.

UPTE filed an unfair labor practice suit in November, because they said the UC changed the conditions of their employment after their contract was up by requiring them to decide between taking unpaid leave or using their vacation time.

They are also urging people to e-mail Joe Mullinix, who approves the contracts at the UC Office of the President, and ask him not to force workers to give up negotiations for raises.

Max Hechter, UPTE’s vice president, said the negotiations were dividing coworkers and engendering bad blood between non-union employees who receive the paid days off and union employees who are not currently scheduled to receive them, punishing unions in the process.

He said that UPTE’s decision not to give up the possibility of pay increases may be seen as brought upon by themselves, but that the union was only listening to its members’ wishes, who voted overwhelmingly for raises over the paid days off.

“When you look at the math they’re trying to buy us off on the cheap, as I see it,” he said.

The union American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents workers in housing and food service on campus, came to an agreement with the UC that included the two days of paid leave and three paid training days in exchange for no raises last year.

Faith Raider, an AFSCME spokeswoman from the headquarters office, said the majority of the union’s workers voted to accept the days off because they thought it was the best the union could do.

“People are really concerned about their wages because expenses are rising,” she said, citing parking, health care and rent expenses.

Raider said the union’s contract expired in January, and that they were fighting for a more equitable contract that would include a lateral transfer system for employees to work in other jobs on campus while their facilities were closed, so they could avoid a break in employment.

Hays Witt, a legal organizer for UCLA AFSCME, said the paid days off do not compensate for the system in which workers are forced to take two weeks of unpaid leave when housing closes for the holidays.

“The two days of bonus pay are a small step in the right direction of compensating folks that haven’t had any cost of living increase since October of 2002,” he said. “It’s a small, small step in making up what people have fallen behind on for the past couple of years.”

Witt added that it was unfortunate that the university puts its lower-level workers in a position where they have to choose between being paid on mandatory leave or giving up a raise.

He said regardless of the union, campus workers were being forced to make a choice that executives don’t have to make.

“All of the support staff that make the university run are kind of in same boat here, and its a boat that nobody should have to be on,” he said.