Our Bargaining Team met with the University team in Oakland on Sept. 14 and 15. We presented UC with our response to their wage proposal. We are maintaining in our proposal annual across-the-board wage increases and step increases, as well as increases in shift differential for both campus and medical center employees, while UC only offered shift differential for medical center employees.
Our Team is insisting on 100% paid time off for Paid Family and Child Bonding Leave, instead of the 70% UC offered.
UC rejected our parking proposal to cut increases in half and returned their response of increases of $10 or 10% per year.
Our members stood strong with our Bargaining Team, with several attending our session via Zoom to tell their stories to UC. Public Safety Dispatchers Julie Jones, who works at UC Merced, and Michael Krakowiak, at UC Santa Cruz, addressed UC negotiators on the need for increased pay and pay steps, training funds and bilingual pay. Library Assistants Lee Riggs, UC Davis; and Linda Michelle Weinberger, UC Irvine, spoke about having their pay frozen at the top step for up to 10 years. They stressed the need for additional pay steps for all workers, many of whom are seeing two-thirds of their take-home pay going to rent.
UC continues to stall on issues of critical importance to our members like telecommuting, while offering wage and raise proposals far below what workers need to survive in the most expensive state in the country. Our members who have showed up at bargaining sessions, at rallies, and for Union actions on campuses across the state have made it clear to UC—we need fair pay for our essential work now!
UC listened intently as members told their stories of dedication and long years of service to UC without recognition and their struggles and hardships stemming from too many years of low pay.
UC continues to stall in negotiations and did not return a response to our proposal to Article 10 – Hours of Work, which includes an effective new proposal for telecommuting/remote work for our members that we passed in May.
CX Unit in Status Quo
The CX Bargaining Unit is in status quo as of September 1, 2022, requiring the UC to maintain the same wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment for bargaining unit employees that existed at the time our contract expired, until a new contract agreement with the union is reached. The UC also must maintain any past practices.
Terms of the agreement that do expire include binding arbitration as the final step of the grievance procedure, the management rights clause, and the “no strike” clause. The UC is bound to continue to apply “just cause” and notice to our Union regarding discipline.
Teamsters Local 2010 will file unfair labor practice (ULP) charges against the UC for any unilateral changes demanding the UC “make whole” any members who have lost pay or rights due to a violation of our Union contract. All bargaining unit members must remain vigilant in policing changes to terms and conditions of employment so that their Union Representative can file charges in a timely manner to ensure no waiver of our rights.
Please be sure to reach out to the Union Representative for your campus with any concerns so we can protect you!
We will meet will UC over the next two weeks to try to resolve our differences and reach an agreement on the remaining outstanding articles, especially wages.
Upcoming Bargaining Sessions:
- September 22 & 23 in Bellflower
- September 27, 28, 29 & 30 in Oakland