UC’s “Last, Best, and Final” v. What we won in 2019

Today, UC sent UPTE its "Last, Best, and Final Offer" (LBFO). Thisdoes not mean that UC will not improve its offer when we agree to a contract. 

Far from an actual "last, best and final" offer, this is a technical term for something UC must provide before it is allowed to implement any of its proposals without UPTE's agreement - something we should expect them to do in the following weeks.

UC made a "last, best, final offer" and then implemented its terms on our AFSCME siblings recently and to our Research and Technical members in 2019. We know that we can win more by continuing to fight, just like we did in 2019.

The energy, enthusiasm, and solidarity on display at the thirty-third annual UPTE Convention in San Diego were incredible. It was much needed after another year of hard work, where we struck UC four times and executed UPTE's first-ever UC-wide majority strike vote.

UPTE members shared why they are committed to continuing this fight and strategized on how to make our upcoming strike vote, beginning on September 22, and longer strikes successful.

We also discussed how we can work with other unions and workers to stop the billionaire-led attacks on public healthcare, education, and research. UPTE members were excited to learn from guests from the Chicago Teachers Union and UNITE HERE who have run successful strikes and community campaigns. They elected their own leaders to public office. We heard from multiple guests about the importance of supporting California Proposition 50—the Election Rigging Response Act—to stop the federal attacks on public healthcare, research, and education.

More than 15 months since we began negotiations, patients, research, and students continue to suffer as UC bargains in bad faith while continuing to pour billions into over-priced, luxury architecture.

UC systemwide strike vote
September 22 – October 2

Vote YES to strike
Details to be announced

UC is sticking to its offer of three years of raises over four years, which would leave us permanently behind inflation and UC nurses, along with unlimited increases in healthcare costs, promising only to exacerbate the crisis of recruitment and retention.

Maintaining the status quo is not an option: we are faced with a choice between escalating our fight for a fair contract or moving backward for the next four years, facing hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in healthcare cost increases each month.

Your YES vote on September 22 will send a strong message to UC's new President James B. Milliken: UC's behavior is unacceptable, and you are willing to strike for as long as it takes to win.

UC tried to pull a fast one by announcing a parking fee hike earlier this year at several UC locations—UCI, UCLA, UCR, UCB, and UCD. UPTE members forced them to hit the brakes. 

When UPTE members at those campuses received notice that their parking rates were going to be increasing in a few months, we wasted no time in reminding UC that what they were planning was unlawful. We’d been (and are still are) in the status quo period of contract negotiations and they had no grounds to unilaterally impose anything without bargaining with us first. 

So, in preparation for good-faith bargaining over this parking fee increase, we requested financial information from each UC campus as a matter of course. The response? Nearly all campuses pulled a quick u-turn, claiming this was all a mistake—no increases for UPTE or AFSCME members after all. 

Cut workers and the work suffers. Critical research on cancer, Alzheimer's, and other crucial studies is now at risk of derailment in the wake of UCSD’s recent decision to lay off 16 career animal technicians—on top of dozens of temporary staff cuts earlier this year. 

We know these technicians are the frontline staff responsible for the daily care of research animals, including “million-dollar mice” used in multi-year studies. The reality is that these cuts threaten the validity of experiments and could undermine years of work—putting us at risk of losing the next breakthrough for diseases that impact millions of lives. 

As we continue our fight for a fair contract, UPTE members are also fighting and winning on issues that matter to us in workplaces all across the state.

With UC's new President James Milliken a few days into his tenure, we hope he will choose a new path for our negotiations—but we continue to get strike-ready if UC continues its bad faith bargaining.

Every UPTE member who has stepped up to fight back against UC's poorly thought-out policies, short-sighted layoffs, and other overreaches is showing UC that we won't back down in our fight for our patients, research, and students. 

Together, we are holding UC accountable to its mission of serving all Californians. Check out these recent fights and victories:

• UPTE Members Beat Back Layoffs at UCSF and UCSD

• "I'm in IT and UPTE Just Reversed My Layoff"

• Animal Techs at Davis Vet Med Hospital Picket for Safe Staffing

• CLS Members at UCI Win Fight Against Dangerous Mandatory OT

• UCSF CRCs Take on a Bad Boss—and Win

• Research & Development Engineers at UCSD Fight Back Against Layoffs

UPTE and the University have completed the final steps of the state-mandated impasse process with the release of a report by a neutral arbitrator. The report is not binding on either party: it is intended to help reach agreement but does not restrict UPTE's right to strike in order to win our demands.

Fact finding reports typically recommend the status quo and UC was unable to make such a case for their proposal to remove healthcare premium caps, leading the fact finder to conclude:

"This credit-based model does not exist in any other UC collective bargaining agreement. All comparator unions rely on premium caps or tiered structures—not flat monthly credits—to manage cost exposure. Furthermore, UC's proposed model lacks a cap on total employee premium increases, meaning that even with the credit, employees could face unbounded financial liability."

In 2019, the fact finder recommended against UC's proposal to cut the pension for new hires and remove healthcare premium caps. It was not the fact finding report that moved UC but thousands of UPTE members going on strike. Click here to RSVPfor our webinar on Tuesday, July 22nd at noon to hear more about the next steps in our fight!

Research and Development Engineers (RDEs) are among some of UPTE’s newest members across the state—and they’re already wracking up some major wins through their newfound collective strength!

Shortly after joining UPTE, UCSD shifted RDEs to exempt overtime status, removing a vital form of pay that they had been receiving. These new members were eager to fight back—they put their heads together, then called for a meeting with Labor Relations to make their case. UCSD agreed to provide equity adjustments for impacted RDEs, resulting in salary increases of $10,000+ per person to account for average overtime hours.

But that’s not all—when four RDEs were wrongfully laid off and treated as if they were non-union, UPTE members once again sprang into action. Together, we alerted Labor Relations that these workers were now UPTE-represented, submitted an RFI, and met with UC leadership. As a result of our efforts, all four layoffs were rescinded.

With UC experiencing a crisis of leadership, these victories make all the more apparent the power we have together in our union.

Short-staffing, weekend shifts, missed meals and bathroom breaks, and now mandatory overtime? If it were up to UC Irvine management, this would have been the reality for clinical laboratory scientists at UC Irvine. There was just one thing missing from their calculus—the collective power UPTE members have in our union.

When workers got the notice announcing that management was asserting the right to implement mandatory overtime, forcing these people into unexpected 10-12 hour shifts, we said no way. UC’s justification? That people were taking too much sick time. What did they expect after months of working people ragged due to inadequate staffing?

The stakes are high. When people are overworked and understaffed, mistakes happen—and not small, routine mistakes, but potentially a patient receiving the wrong kidney or something similarly serious and potentially life-threatening. 

UPTE members immediately got organized. We circulated a petition in our laboratory which garnered overwhelming support and outlined the dangerous risks for patients and the tremendous personal toll that these policies were having on workers.