Due to our Tentative Agreement (TA) with the University of California, UPTE is no longer striking on Monday and Tuesday, and you should report to work as normal. We encourage you to join AFSCME 3299 and CNA on their picket lines before work, as early as 7 am, and for 11:30 am / noon-time rallies.

I am excited to announce that more than 7,500 members have already submitted their ratification vote. If you haven't, submit yours here now! More members must vote YES than NO for the TA to become our contract.

Changes in the contract, including title-specific equity increases, will be effective retroactive to the first full pay period following ratification—November 23, 2025, for bi-weekly pay and December 1, 2025, for monthly pay—but may take up to 120 days to be processed and appear in a paycheck.

If you have questions about the TA, reach out to your UPTE Unit or Workplace Representative, or UPTE Organizer.

Unfortunately, the 2026 Blue & Gold and Kaiser premiums displayed in UC's Open Enrollment and Alex tools are inaccurate—they are based on UC's previous proposals at the bargaining table and UC has informed us that they are unable to update them at this point.

Our actual premiums for 2026 Blue & Gold and Kaiser plans based on our Tentative Agreement (TA) are available here. Our rates are lower for most members—but slightly higher for some—because we won subsidies that keep costs affordable for everyone; no matter how much you make or who you insure.

You can still make changes to your Open Enrollment choices through November 21st.

If you haven't already, review the other wins in our TA and vote to ratify the TA. Nearly 7,000 members voted on the first day! The TA will only become our contract if more members vote YES than NO.

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.

The University of California is sitting on $26 billion in liquid and short-term capital and $41 billion in endowments.¹ While leadership enjoys generous pay increases and boasts of strong financial growth, they leave the patients, students, and workers of UC to make do with less and less.

The cost of UC’s misplaced priorities is high. The question is, will we let them make us keep footing the bill?

“We love our patients, and that’s why we went into this field. We only want to provide the best possible care for these animals, but when we’re short-staffed, we can miss things. We just want to be able to live up to our reputation as the #1 veterinary hospital and provide the care people expect from us,” said LaShell Alpaugh, a Registered Vet. Tech. at UC Davis.

🔗 You can also download this information for social media and explore our other research on UC’s role in the staffing crisis.

Don't be confused by the term "Last, Best, and Final" offer. In 2019, we beat UC's attempt to cut the pension, won significantly more in raises and daily overtime pay by continuing to fight - and strike - following UC's Last, Best, and Final Offer (LBFO) and imposition.

UC is likely to impose a raise, along with their proposed healthcare cuts, without UPTE's agreement, in an attempt to confuse us and keep us from having a powerful strike.

We can't let that stop us from continuing our fight for our patients, our research, and or our students. Make sure all of your co-workers are committed to voting to strike on the first day of our vote - September 22nd - and are ready for a longer strike, if necessary!

Make sure all of your co-workers are committed to voting to strike on the first day of our vote - September 22nd - and are ready for a longer strike, if necessary!

Today, UC sent UPTE its "Last, Best, and Final Offer" (LBFO). This does 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.

It is no coincidence that UC sent this offer just after we announced a strike vote beginning on September 22. UC wants to trick our members into thinking that either we agreed to a contract or can't win a better contract – and that it isn't worth it to keep fighting and striking. 

Fortunately, we know this isn't true from our contract victory in 2019. UC implemented on RX and TX members in April of 2019 and in August of 2019 we won a contract with significant improvements from UC's Last, Best, and Final offer. Mark your calendar today for September 22nd and vote YES to strike!

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!