UPTE VP Ursula Quinn: "Over 9k members voted overwhelmingly to ratify our platform; how did we get here and what's next?"

I’m Ursula Quinn, an Occupational Therapist at UCLA and a leader in our union, UPTE. With our platform ratification vote behind us, I wanted to reflect on the last two years and share a bit about what lies ahead as we prepare for negotiations with UC.

When we look at unions that have recently fought for and won stellar contracts, including the UAW, LA teachers, and workers at Kaiser, we should also consider how they reached their goals. It starts with members stepping up in every workplace and at every campus or medical center so that we can share information quickly, enforce our contract when management misbehaves, and tackle our shared obstacles at work.

Knowing this, two years ago we began to recruit coworkers to become unit and workplace representatives. We currently have over 750 members active in representative roles, listening for issues in their workplaces and helping their coworkers take action to address them. You only need to look at upte.org/news or read our monthly newsletter to see evidence of their victories: pay equity increases, increased staffing, better shift differentials, improved schedules, and more.

Last spring, our unit and workplace reps circulated contract priority forms, which were completed by 4,000 UC workers over 3 months to identify their top three goals for bargaining. Those responses were used to create a bargaining survey, which asked members to rank the top priorities in order of importance. Over 8,000 members completed a survey in the final weeks of 2023, and those responses became the foundation of our contract platform.

Last month, we put that contract platform up for a ratification vote. I was so proud to see nearly 9,500 UPTE members cast a ballot between April 4 - 18, approving these bargaining priorities by over 99%. That turnout represents a majority of all UC workers represented by our union—and we’re not stopping there.

Recent negotiations by academic workers, nurses, autoworkers, teachers, and others show us that we’ll need supermajority support and participation to win—and that we need to be ready to strike if necessary. So what comes next? 

Our first bargaining session with UC will be June 11, when a team of 26 UPTE members across healthcare, research, and technical titles from every corner of the state will take your feedback and priorities into negotiations. Be on the lookout for a statewide virtual town hall to discuss what to expect from bargaining.

I hope you feel as proud as I do of how far we’ve come together as a union. If you’d like to get more involved, please reach out to us at upte.org/contact.

Ursula Quinn, Occupational Therapist
UPTE Chapter Co-Chair - UCLA
UPTE Statewide Vice President