UPTE and the University of California have reached a Tentative Agreement (TA) after the mediator brought us back into communications following days of mediation.

This is a major victory for UPTE members across the University of California system and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: delivering significant pay increases over four years, predictable and progressive caps on healthcare premium increases, and improvements in work-life balance, career progression, and job security.

This would not have been possible without the perseverance and commitment of thousands of UPTE members and more than one thousand unit and workplace representatives, who helped develop our platform and advocate for our patients, research, and students over the course of a two-year fight that included seven days on strike.

You can find details about the tentative agreement at upte.org/summary and cast your ballot at upte.org/vote before our ratification vote ends on November 20.

When UCLA took over the West Valley Medical Center (formerly West Hills Hospital) last year, they made a lot of promises. One of them was that per diem workers would not lose their current pay rate or seniority in the transition.

However, when some per diem workers received their first UCLA paycheck, they were shocked to discover their pay had plummeted. This was not what was promised. 

Turns out, UCLA had made a mistake, and in true UC fashion, they elected to simply do nothing about it. No matter their (documented!) promises to per diem employees or the impact the drastically lower pay rate would have on recruitment and retention. As far as management was concerned, per diem workers just had to deal with it.

But UPTE members decided that they, in fact, did not have to deal with it. They led the charge in forcing UC to correct their error and pay them what they were owed. As a result, per diem workers will receive the pay they were promised, as well as backpay dated to when UCLA took over their hospital in March 2024—which, for some workers, totals to thousands of dollars.

Mediation with UC over our contract continues to be productive and will continue on Monday and Tuesday of next week. While our goal remains to reach a settlement prior to a strike, we must continue preparing for a strike to become a necessity.

Also, UC has imposed its proposed January 2025 step and July 2025 5% across-the-board and $25/hr minimum wage - with full retroactivity.

This imposition is a down payment on a good contract - and we need to use it to help us prepare to strike in larger numbers and for longer, if necessary. In 2019, UC imposed a raise in June. By August, we had a fair contract.

UC administrators have the power to avoid a strike by addressing the crisis of recruitment and retention with a fair contract that reflects your priorities. UC's move to unilaterally impose a raise shows they are feeling the pressure. Let's use UC's attempt to buy us off as a down payment for the contract we deserve.

Three weeks ago, more than 10,000 UPTE members across the University of California system voted, with 97 percent in favor of authorizing a strike of a week or longer, even more than in our previous strike vote in February.

As we prepare for the possibility of striking for a week or longer, UC Investments—a portfolio of investments totaling approximately $190 billion—has spent $175.8 million in cash to purchase the Residence Inn by Marriott Berkeley—the hotel next to the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive—a spooktacular buy that should raise every eyebrow this Halloween season. UC has never claimed financial hardship as the reason it hasn't met our contract demands, and clearly, it has the money. No tricks—just the treats we’re owed. It’s up to us to reset its priorities so it focuses on who really matters—the people who work hard every day to bring value to UC.

That’s why we are organizing a rally outside the Residence Inn by Marriott Berkeley on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, from 12:30 to 1 pm—make sure to RSVP!

UC has requested confidential mediation over our ongoing bargaining and UPTE has agreed to meet on October 17th, 23rd, and 24th. 

We do not know what - if anything - will come of mediation, but it is clear that UC's request to meet is a result of the momentum of our powerful strike vote and the imminent threat of the largest strike in UC history.

Mediation is confidential - similar to our mediation in January - unless either party makes a formal proposal. We will share any progress or lack thereof, as soon as possible following mediation.

The urgent task for all UPTE members is to continue preparing to strike. Make sure all of your coworkers have a plan to communicate their strike readiness to management and a plan to arrive together to the picketline if a strike is called.

UC laid off several workers at Children's Hospital Oakland, including some of our UPTE colleagues. This is outrageous: Children's Hospital provides a vital service to the East Bay community. These layoffs will exacerbate the burden on patients in Oakland who desperately need our help.

To make matters even worse, just yesterday, UC unlawfully and abruptly laid off twenty researchers advancing potential treatments and drug discovery for neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's, multiple system atrophy, and prion diseases.

These callous layoffs will have serious consequences on public health: 50 million people globally suffer from a neurodegenerative disease. If UC won't stand up for research, we will. That's why we are rallying outside the UCSF Sandler Neurosciences Center this Wednesday, October 15, at noon, to let management know that we won't give up on science.

I urge you to join us in fighting back against these assaults on lifesaving research and patient care.

We have learned over the last 15 months that we won't get answers from UC at the bargaining table. We will only get answers—and the contract we deserve—by showing UC that we aren't going to be tricked into backing down from our fight.

UC wants us to think that their "Last, Best, Final" offer is a great deal. What is the truth?

1. UC has the money—and has never explained its opposition to UPTE's proposals, including those that are low or no cost.

2. UC's offer would allow for unlimited hikes to our healthcare costs.

3. UC's economic proposals would leave all of us further and further behind our colleagues.

If you have questions about UC's "Last, Best, Final Offer," contact your Bargaining Team Representative or Organizer today.

More than 10,000 UPTE members have voted, with 97% in favor of authorizing a strike - even more than in our previous strike vote in February!

This sends yet another strong message to UC executives, who still have time to come back to the table with proposals that address UPTE members' priorities for resolving the crisis of recruitment and retention and prioritizing patient care, research, and education.

A strike could be announced at any time. The length of a strike will only be known when the strike is announced, which will be 10 days in advance of any strike that includes a UC hospital.

Our strike vote is now open! Go here to vote now and encourage all of your colleagues to do the same.

A YES vote will send a clear message to UC: we are prepared to strike for as long as it takes to win the changes we need to continue delivering world-class healthcare, doing world-class research, and providing world-class education.

Instead of working with frontline workers to protect public healthcare, research, and education, UC executives are negotiating with the federal government behind closed doors. That's why UPTE joined with other UC unions and academic organizations to file a lawsuit against the government's extortion attempt.

The most important thing each of us can do is vote to strike and prepare to be on the picket lines for a longer strike, if that is what it takes to convince UC to invest in frontline workers.

UC has threatened to impose its "Last, Best and Final Offer" (LBFO)—review how far behind that offer would leave us and how much more we won in 2019 after UC's LBFO.