7/31/2019 David Miller letter to Julie Chapman
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Headquarters Los Angeles San Francisco
455 Capitol Mall, Suite 500 130 N. Brand Boulevard, Suite 130 1
Sutter Street, Suite 800
Sacramento, CA 95814 Glendale, CA 91203-3332 San Francisco, CA
94104-4917
(916) 441-2629 (818) 246-0629 (415) 861-6343
FAX (916) 442-4182 FAX (818) 247-2348 FAX (415) 861-5360
E-mail: [email protected]
July 12, 2012
Julie Chapman
Acting Director
California Department of Human Resources
1515 S Street, North Building, Suite 400
Sacramento, California 95811-7258
Dear Ms. Chapman,
We understand that the recently ratified agreements from other
unions include terms that could prove
seriously detrimental to many of the states scientific programs.
We notice that the contract language that
would result in elimination of student assistants is limited to
positions that support bargaining unit work.
Nevertheless we are concerned about the impact of this language
on student positions that are critical to the
mission of state scientific programs that support
scientists.
State scientific and engineering programs depend on student
assistants and interns to pick up a number of less
complex tasks, saving technical staff resources. At the same
time, many student assistants with scientific and
engineering backgrounds wind up qualifying for civil service
exams and are eventually hired to full time
positions in our programs.
State scientific programs gain new employees with
hit-the-ground-running experience. Blanket elimination of
student assistants potentially harm state science programs in
three ways. The state: (1) loses valuable
technical program assistance that cannot be performed by
personnel in classifications represented by other
unions; (2) loses the ability to groom future scientific
employees; and (3) diminishes its ability to recruit new
scientific employees. As you may know, the state already has a
recruitment and retention problem in many of
its scientific programs. This side agreement will make that
problem substantially worse.
Please ensure that state departments continue utilizing student
assistants where they provide critical support
to the states scientific mission.
Sincerely,
David Miller
President
