Students, staff and faculty are all part of the 99%. We want to protect our benefits and jobs and the public service we provide for California. On November 9, UPTE is participating in demonstrations on every campus. Come participate and bring your co-workers. Let’s make a statement that the 99% are paying attention.
On November 16, buses will be going from all Northern California campuses to the UC Regents meeting in San Francisco and from all Southern California campuses to the CSU Trustees meeting in Long Beach. Sign up with your UPTE activists to get a seat on the bus.
Not only do these events support the nationwide and worldwide movement to have the wealthy pay the taxes they should, but also tell UC we will not accept the massive erosion of our benefits when our contract expires.
APs Want A Union
APs began collecting cards for union recognition two weeks ago and we have had a great initial response. With support of organizers from CWA (our national union), we are going to back the 2000 APs who signed a commitment card to make good on their commitment and sign a union authorization card.
This campaign for a union contract for an additional 16,500 UC employees will take an enormous effort from everyone in UPTE. We want all zone contacts to talk to an AP in their area and get a card. Those in the TX/RX/HX units can point to the excellent contracts we have achieved as the best reason for a union.
UPTE Wins Union Leave Case
The arbitrator in our case to defend our union leave issued a speedy decision in favor of UPTE. We ruled that UC has no right to prohibit consecutive leaves for union business without a legitimate operational need.
Benefits For 2012 and Bargaining Status
The health benefits costs for 2012 with comparisons to last year’s costs are posted on the UPTE website. Check UC’s atyourservice website for more information on open enrollment.
In short, the costs of most of the plans increased by 7% to 9% with the exception of the Blue Cross PPO. The premium for this plan dropped by up to 44%. Remember that all PPO plans will most likely have a larger co-pay when you go to the doctor. This plan is used mainly by higher paid staff because of the increased co-pay.
For TX/RX, employees will stay on the 2010 rates until we reach an agreement in bargaining. While we can never say for sure, we anticipate this to conclude in the next 2-3 months, at which time everyone would switch to the 2012 rates.
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