2024 was an incredible year

After our 24th day of bargaining, the University showed no intention to address our priorities nor to take their legal obligations more seriously. 

When we asked the University to explain the claim that they are offering 19-23% raises (when in fact UC has offered just 11% across the board raises) UC's Chief Negotiator said "I didn't do the update, so no, I won't try to."

On December 11, we informed the University that we believe negotiations are no longer productive and that we should begin an 'impasse' process required by the Public Employment Relations Board before we are able to call a strike directly over our bargaining priorities. We can continue to strike in response to the University's Unfair Labor Practices during this time.

Your bargaining team is recommending that UPTE hold a statewide strike vote to authorize UPTE leadership to call a strike in response to unfair labor practices committed by UC. 

Among the ongoing unfair labor practices UC has committed are their unilateral increase to healthcare costs, bad faith bargaining, and unconstitutional restrictions on union speech and activities. 

We knew how the world reacted to a worldwide pandemic with COVID-19. In California alone, nearly one hundred ten thousand have died from the contagious disease since first being detected in late January 2020. We have seen how our loved ones and entire communities were devastated by the pandemic. That is why we need to be on guard for the next time.

Workers at the California Animal Health & Food Safety Lab System (CAHFS) at UC Davis are raising the alarm about severe understaffing and unsafe conditions that jeopardize critical testing for diseases like Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1).

On December 11 at 12 pm, these essential workers who are protecting the health and safety of our communities staged an informational picket at UC Davis. Please click here to send an email in support of them to Dean Stetter.

You may have seen the recent Los Angeles Times article highlighting the working conditions that workers have to endure on a daily basis just to protect all of us. The fight that CAHFS workers are going through is what we mean when talking about resetting UC's priorities to serve ALL Californians.

If UC had any doubts that UPTE members were willing to do whatever it takes to end the University's unfair labor practices and the crisis of recruitment and retention, our strike at UCSF put those to rest.

Through wind and rain, UPTE members at UCSF came out in their biggest numbers ever. Please take a look at the incredible photos and videos on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and Bluesky to get a sense of what it looked and felt like. You can also take a look at our coverage of our unfair labor practice strike in the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco, and ABC News.

In an email to UCSF staff this morning, Chancellor Hawgood and Suresh Gunasekaran, the President and CEO of UCSF Health, acknowledged that "[t]he strike has had an impact on all of us, and its effects will linger in the weeks ahead."

UC now knows how prepared thousands of UPTE members across the state are to strike if they continue their unfair labor practices.

Today, we are announcing that a ULP strike will take place at UCSF on November 20 and 21, 2024. We are limiting this strike to UCSF in order to give UC an opportunity to begin to bargain in good faith.

If they don't - and if they continue their pattern of unlawful behavior—all 20,000 UPTE workers across the state need to be prepared to act to hold UC accountable.

For five months, UC has refused to meaningfully engage with any of our proposals. The University's refusal to bargain in good faith is not just illegal, it insults the commitment that each and every one of you has to your patients, research, and students. I have heard again and again from clinicians who report that short staffing and delayed care could mean permanent health impacts.

If and when the time comes for a strike at your campus, I hope you'll be prepared to stand with thousands of UPTE members across the state.

On Friday, UPTE and the University concluded our twenty-third day of bargaining. Even with all of our contracts now expired, UC has yet to provide a pay proposal for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and is explicitly refusing—unlawfully—to bargain over our inclusion in the mortgage loan program it provides to Executives and Faculty.

While UC finally acknowledged the importance of guaranteeing the use of vacation accruals, they have not offered improved accruals or the right to cash out vacation despite already providing higher accruals to executives and managers. Overall, the movement made by the University after five months and ten bargaining sessions remains insignificant.

UC's raise offer would leave us behind in inflation, setting us up to fall even further behind by 2027. Worse, their healthcare cuts would allow them to raise costs as much as they want, allowing them to take back hundreds if not thousands of dollars per month. Go here to see a comparison of our offer and UC's.

UC continues to bargain in bad faith and plans to unilaterally increase healthcare costs in 2025, all violating California law. Go here to sign a strike pledge today!

Thousands of members participated in our strike vote at UCSF, voting yes to strike by 98% and dwarfing turnout from all past UPTE strike votes.

Over 75% of healthcare workers voted to strike, meaning that our power to hold UC accountable will be on full display at UCSF's Medical Centers, labs, and clinics.

A strike at UCSF may be announced at any time. UPTE will provide at least 10 days notice to the University and has already reminded them of their responsibility to plan for this.

Click here to find a strike FAQ.

We are limiting this strike to UCSF in order to give UC an opportunity to begin to bargain in good faith. If UC continues to commit illegal, unfair labor practices, all of us must be prepared for a statewide strike vote.

Have all of your colleagues pledged to strike already? Please ask to make sure they have today!

I am proud that our clinicians, researchers, and technical staff at UCSF are prepared to be the first to stand up and strike to hold the UC system accountable for its unfair labor practices. UCSF members, you can cast your ULP strike authorization vote now by visiting upte.org/vote.

We cannot allow UC to drag out negotiations and prolong the crisis of recruitment and retention with these illegal tactics. If UC continues its pattern of unfair practices, we need everyone across the state to be ready to vote to strike, too. While UCSF votes, ensure all your coworkers have signed a commitment card and are ready to join us.

What are some ways UC has bargained in bad faith, putting patient care, and research at risk by prolonging the recruitment and retention crisis?

• Sending representatives who lack the authority to address the critical issues we've raised at the bargaining table;

• Making proposals that they know we would not accept;

• Refusing to disclose the number of unfilled positions in our titles statewide—or how many millions of dollars they're saving by not filling budgeted staff.

We are now in our 5th month of negotiations and our contracts expire in less than 2 weeks. Yet the University has not ended its unfair practices, made significant movement on our priorities, nor even provided a complete contract proposal. 

UC has not provided any pay proposal at all for Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) and has not responded to proposals that UPTE made more than 2 months ago, such as Shift Differentials and Subcontracting.

At bargaining yesterday at UC Santa Cruz, UPTE members once again packed the room to share stories of how poor compensation, misclassification, lack of career progression and more are impacting our students and our research. We were also joined by State Assemblywoman Gail Pellerin who called on the University to address the affordability crisis, and by State Senator John Laird who pledged his support if a strike becomes necessary. 

Our rally was covered by KSBW Action News 8, local NPR affiliate KAZU 90.3, and Lookout Santa Cruz.

On Friday, October 11, UPTE filed an unfair labor practice charge in response to UC’s bad faith bargaining and illegal plan to implement unlimited healthcare cost increases while we are bargaining. UC currently pays 76-95% of monthly healthcare premiums on Kaiser & UC Blue & Gold plans, thanks to the $25 annual limit we won in our last contract.

After significant increases in 2024, this saved up to $224/month compared to non-union employees. By proposing to remove the cap, UC wants the ability to shift up to $2,451.37 per month in costs to us - numbers that are likely to increase dramatically in 2025 and beyond.

What UC is proposing in bargaining:

• No limit on healthcare premium increases

• $100 subsidy for Pay Band 1, $75 subsidy for Pay Band 2 (after their increases)

Some of what UC is planning to implement outside of bargaining in 2025:

• 9% increase in cost on pay bands 1 and 2 (those making less than $140,000)

• 11% increase in cost on pay bands 3 and 4 (those making more than $140,000)

• CORE PPO no longer no-cost (premium cost not announced)