UPTE President Dan Russell: "The more of us that participate, the more that we will win and the sooner we will win it."
As 2023 comes to a close, we can celebrate and rest knowing that our union is stronger than we have ever been. However, we have much work ahead of us in 2024 and beyond.
Over the past three months, we collected more than 7,700 bargaining surveys - three times as many as we collected prior to our contract negotiations that began in 2017. Participation in our bargaining survey was more than double our Contract Priorities form, whose responses informed questions on the bargaining survey.
All of this is due to the tireless work of more than 600 Unit and Workplace Representatives, who have stepped into these roles over the past 2 years. They have also helped lead countless market equity, internal equity, reclassification, and working conditions fights over the past year. We have added hundreds of new workers to our union and made important progress in statewide negotiations over pay scales for hundreds more.
In 2024, members will have the opportunity to ratify our Contract Platform and elect our bargaining team before opening negotiations in the summer. Together, we will demand:
Raises that make up for inflation and keep up with inflation moving forward, as well as bringing our wages up to market.
Better work-life balance: improved vacation time and rights, flexible schedules, and shorter working hours with no reduction in pay.
Improved career development: ensuring that increased responsibilities and skills are rewarded and that we don't have to choose between our union rights and benefits and promotions.
Increased job security and safe staffing, so that we can continue doing this work for the rest of our careers here at UC.
While UC nurses were able to win strong contracts without striking, academic workers were forced to strike for 5 weeks to win their industry-changing contracts just a year ago. Similarly, UPS workers presented a credible enough strike threat that they won a great contract victory without striking, while auto workers, actors, and writers were forced to strike for weeks in order to achieve victory.
We can never say what it will take to win—all we know for certain is that the more of us that participate, the more that we will win and the sooner we will win it.
Thank you for all that you do for our patients, students, and everyone who benefits from the world-changing and life-saving research that we make possible. Our fight for better contracts will mean that we can do so much more, while having more time to enjoy other things in our lives.