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!

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.

For the past year, the leadership of one of the studies in the Division of HIV, Infectious Disease, and Global Medicine had been extremely hostile towards clinical research coordinators.

Despite a heavy workload for the team, management continued to invest in the expansion of the managerial team rather than investing in more CRCs. Moreover, the direct CRC supervisor had no knowledge of the workflow of the team, did not contribute to study enrollment or study visits, and overall seemed to have a superfluous role other than to micromanage the team’s work. 

The final straw for the team came when NIH funding cuts began to affect the team, and the management team opted to lay off the most senior team member rather than the manager.

In response to this situation, members of multiple teams across the Division of HIV, as well as Ward 86 Social Workers and wet lab workers, marched on their boss to push back, delivering a petition with overwhelming support and highlighting issues on the team.

We demanded a labor management meeting to discuss the situation and that same day, a Labor and Employee Relations representative got in touch with us to schedule the meeting.