UPTE members are fighting back against misclassification across the UC—and we're winning

Employee misclassification takes many forms—management may ask you to perform duties outside the scope of your job description, or could have groups of people working in outdated job titles that don’t adequately reflect their contributions. UPTE has been fighting for proper reclassification when members aren’t being adequately compensated for their work—and we’ve been winning.

15 IT staff at UC Berkeley recently fought for and won reclassifications and salary increases that were long overdue. Most people won between 8% and 18% raises retroactive about a year and half. When the Department proposed using 5 temporary contractors to do the work of the regular UPTE staff, our union organized around a counter proposal that included demanding reclassifications and quicker hiring of open positions. 

Toni Ward, a Workplace Rep for Desktop Support and one of the people reclassified said "Nothing feels better than reaping the fruits of your labor. I'm ecstatic to share this historical victory with my fellow UPTE members. It took years for management to move on several reclass requests. I consider the department's retirement of the job title Computer Resource Specialist and reclassification of 15 represented members to BTSA 2 and BTSA 3 (and one to Sys Admin) a huge victory. Now is the time—we're going to continue to organize, mobilize and fight for fair contracts!" 

Business Technical Support Analysts (BTSAs) are the primary IT support staff at UC. They provide day-to-day advanced consultation, training, instruction and troubleshooting / problem-solving to end users for hardware, software, network and related computer systems, handheld and peripheral devices and ensure their smooth operation for users.

That hasn’t been our only victory in the past months. Recently Grace Cho, who was a Staff Research Associate I at UCLA, also realized she was doing lots of work that typically falls to SRA IIs or even SRA IIIs including lab management, running experiments, and overseeing undergraduates.

“My friends suggested I reach out to UPTE, and I had met my union organizer at a social event before and so I sent an email to get the process started. We talked about my situation and how my duties had evolved over time, and then drafted a reclassification request letter together. A few months later, HR followed up and I was reclassified as an SRA II. I was so happy when I saw the email and immediately shared the great news with my friends. It really hit home when I received my new badge that said SRA II, though. I was so excited I took a picture to send to my family right away,” said Grace.

“I really feel like all of my hard work and dedication has been recognized. I want to encourage everyone to take action and advocate for yourself. We’re all worthy of being recognized for our hard work and dedication. I have a good relationship with my boss and I’m fortunate for that, but this is a good reminder of why we have a union and a strong contract to protect our rights at work.”

If you believe you may be eligible for reclassification, you can find contact information for your UPTE organizer by clicking here.