Union Builder Communicator: March 10, 2008 | |
Coalition Unions, Benefits, Pay And The State The state budget is now expected to be $14.5 billion in the red. Is there a solution for University of California employees? UPTE’s research and technical workers had their first bargaining session last week. Whatever happens with CNA and AFSCME will have a significant impact on our contract. UC already knows what the benefits plans will cost them in 2009 for all their plans except for Kaiser and Kaiser is the cheapest and will not increase much. The UC regents have also already decided to not begin any pension contributions prior to September 2009. This means that if CNA and AFSCME can resolve their bargaining demands for fair pay, safe staffing and other issues, there may be a solution for a short term contract through the end of 2009. For the technical (TX) and research (RX) contract that we are negotiating, we need to separate our raises from the issue of what the state allocates for pay increaseds. Only a negligible fraction of our members are funded by state funds. Most of us are on federal grants or work in recharge facilities that get money from grants. We need to impress upon the regents, legislators and UC administrators that the traditional linkage of our pay to the state budget is outdated and unacceptable. More than 150 members of UPTE-CWA from all over the state made a strong impression on UC bargainers by showing up at the first bargaining session. UC now knows we care about our pay, benefits and our contract. More actions will be following … join the fun and make yourself heard. TX/RX Pay Increase Problems CWA Bierne Scholarship Livermore Skilled Trades Win A Union Our new skilled trades members are very concerned about their job security after management placed much of their future budget in a plan to develop reliable, renewable warheads that was politically and scientifically doomed. We want to ensure that any staff reductions respect seniority and that the lab seeks to keep as many as possible. There will be many other contract demands in this first ever contract for skilled trades at the lab. More Healthcare Equity Our members at the other medical centers have researched the market pay for their titles and will present the information to UC negotiators. If UC refuses to make equitable adjustments, we will mobilize our members to support our demands. Be on the look out for reports on how our meetings with management go.
Last issue's winner was Zulma Finney of UCSF. Congratulations! |
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This e-publication was prepared by UPTE-CWA President Jelger Kalmijn. Contact him if you have any questions or comments. If you wish to be removed from this list, please email info@upte-cwa.org. |