Our Teamsters CX Unit Bargaining Team members are waging a tough fight against the University of California during contract negotiations. We know that we can win this fight because we’re Teamsters, and when we stand together and fight, we WIN!
During our most recent bargaining sessions with the UC management team, the most contentious issue was the cost of healthcare benefits. The UC proposed to remove the caps on HMO healthcare insurance premium increases that we won in our previous contract, which would allow the employer to impose unlimited premium increases in each year of the contract. Instead of the caps, UC proposes to pay a fixed monthly credit toward premiums – $100/month for employees in pay band 1 and $75/month for employees in pay band 2.
Local 2010 Secretary-Treasurer Jason Rabinowitz and other Teamsters Bargaining Team members sharply criticized the proposal to eliminate the caps, pointing out that UC’s proposal would permit the employer to impose unlimited premium increases in each year of the contract, but the “credit” would not increase when premiums rise. And unspent credits would not roll over to subsequent years – UC would keep any unspent credits. Our team’s message back to UC was loud and clear: UC should not shift the cost of healthcare onto employees, and Teamsters will fight hard to protect our medical benefits from unlimited premium increases!
The teams also had a long discussion on bilingual pay. UC refuses to budge from their position that if bilingual speaking is listed as required in your job description, then you are not eligible for bilingual pay because you were compensated when you were hired, even if you are certified. We pointed out that people that have bilingual listed as “preferred” in their job description and have no certification are getting bilingual pay. UC says the bilingual pay language in our contract is specific to jobs that do not require a worker to be bilingual.
We need to stand together and tell the UC that we won’t let go of caps on healthcare premiums and other costs! The UC has billions of dollars at their disposal–we, the workers who make the UC run, do not!
Sign our petition to UC administration to show we’re standing together in support of our Bargaining Team!
“UC’s proposal to shift the cost of healthcare on to employees by allowing unlimited increases to our insurance premiums is unacceptable. Teamsters Local 2010 will fight with everything we’ve got — and our members are ready to do whatever it takes — to protect our medical coverage and win the fair raises and step increases we deserve!”
Jason Rabinowitz, Secretary-Treasurer
Teamsters Local 2010
“As a teaching assistant at UCLA Lab School, it upsets me that my bilingual skills are NOT fairly compensated,” said Bargaining Team member Kat Colato. “The teachers on UCLA Lab School’s campus get compensated handsomely for their bilingual skills, while CX teaching assistants are not.”
The UC had other lowball compensation proposals this session as well:
- UC proposed removing the 20-year longevity bonuses, which would kill the morale of these long-time, dedicated workers.
- UC proposed removing lump-sum signing bonus.
- UC proposed removing the “me too” clause that gives CX workers any across-the-board raise beyond what our contract calls for which is awarded to non-represented workers. Over our current contract, the “me too” clause gave us the equivalent of an extra year of across-the-board raises.
- UC proposed 9% + 1 step annually over four years for non-probationary employees, which is insufficient in light of the the increased cost of living in California
“I found UC’s proposals insulting,” said Bargaining Team member Tiffany Rodriguez, who works with UCOP at UC Berkeley. “We are finally catching up and now UC wants to put us back in the corner and take away the wins we gained. It shows UC does not value us as employees.”
Learn more about our contract negotiations and have your questions answered at a membership meeting at your worksite. Find a CX Unit member meeting by clicking here to go to our online calendar.
