Lecturers, resident physicians and union members press UC regents over layoffs, wages and staffing

Dozens of lecturers, resident physicians and union representatives used the public-comment period at the University of California Investments Committee meeting on July 15 to urge the regents to address layoffs, restore courses and raise wages for frontline health-care workers. Lecturers and unit-18 employees described recent notices of layoffs that they said were issued based on budget scenarios that had since changed. "We were given off notices in late June," said Peter Sebulia, a lecturer and member of the UC community, describing contradictory information he and colleagues received about benefit cut-off dates. Josh Burhinski, a lecturer at UC Santa Cruz who identified himself as vice president for organizing of a lecturers union, said his campus and others had seen…