UC’s proposals continue to be unacceptable
During bargaining on March 16th, we asked UC why they are proposing pay scales that would leave dozens of SysAdmins above the top step and ineligible for a number of future raises. UC could not even confirm whether their proposed pay scales were accurate. This is entirely unacceptable.
Disappointingly, UC has been either unwilling or unable to provide any meaningful response to our questions about what their proposals are based on, and neither option is reassuring.
Here's a brief explanation of where we stand currently:
Prior to us becoming UPTE-represented, our pay scale consisted only of a minimum and maximum salary with no defined steps in between or clear path to move up the pay scale except at management's discretion.
We have proposed a clear ladder of pay steps that would result in guaranteed raises each year on the anniversary of your hiring. Such a scale provides a path from everyone's current rate of pay to the top of the pay scale over time in the form of guaranteed annual pay increases. These are standard in union contracts at UC and beyond.
At our last session, UC negotiators insisted that the "midpoint" of our salaries on average was the important number we needed to base our proposals on and repeatedly claimed that the midpoints of their proposals are supposedly aligned with the market.
However, UC's proposed middle step for SysAdmin 3 at UC Berkeley, San Francisco, and Los Angeles (see below) are all lower than the midpoint of the 2017 salary range - despite the fact that most SysAdmin salaries have now increased by at least 22%.* Relative to the increases provided in the recent settlement agreement, the proposed middle step for every campus is between 13-32% lower than it was compared to the 2017 salary midpoint.
To make matters worse, all of these proposals are also made within the context of skyrocketing cost of living and the ongoing impacts of inflation.
We are inviting UC Systems Administrators to join us on Wednesday, March 10 at 11 am, when we hope to receive an answer. Check your email to find links to both the Zoom bargaining room with UC, as well as our caucus room, and see for yourself how unprepared management has been to engage in serious negotiations with our team.
If you haven’t received an email from us, please update your contact information by submitting a new membership form here.