The election for the University of California Retirement System (UCRS) Advisory Board is upon us. The Advisory Board provides UC with strategic, non-binding input on pension matters. Strong worker representation on the board plays a critical role for raising our concerns and accessing the information we need to protect what we've earned to secure our future.

Ruth Zolayvar, AFSCME 3299 and current UCRS Advisory Board member, and David Yamada, Chief Nurse Representative for the California Nurses Association, are the only candidates endorsed by UC unions. We need both of them on the Advisory Board so that strong worker voices are at the table with UC. 

From May 3 - 17, UPTE members cast their ballots to select which of our coworkers will represent our interests at the upcoming UPTE Convention, as well as the CWA Convention (CWA is the national union that UPTE is affiliated with).

We’re pleased to announce the delegates that members across the state selected to represent them at UPTE’s convention on June 10-11 in Oakland, listed by workplace below.

Click here to see the full results of the delegate elections.

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.

Keep reading to see a brief explanation of where we stand currently.

"Over the last 3 months, more members have participated in our UC Contract Priorities program than our entire last round of contract negotiations. Still, we have much work to do to build our capacity to engage with everyone we represent before we begin negotiations next year.

Now, we'll be reaching out to the respected colleagues identified by our coworkers to ask them to step up and join our Unit and Workplace Representative Councils. We'll also be reviewing the Contract Priorities Forms and developing our Bargaining Survey in consultation with our Unit and Workplace Reps.

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may ask you to perform duties outside the scope of your job description, or could have groups of people working in outdated job titles that don’t adequately reflect their contributions.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 a 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.

The Physician Assistants (PAs) at UC Davis recently won a 6% equity increase that also brings them closer to pay parity with Nurse Practitioners (NPs). The shift rates were adjusted to further increase pay parity with the NPs. Call pay was also increased from $12 - $15, making it the highest call pay at UCD for the healthcare professionals unit.

"This is only the beginning! Smiley, the workplace rep, and I are looking forward to the year ahead to attain more equality with our nurse practitioner partners and a step system that will allow for job advancement for our profession at UC Davis and Statewide," said John Ancona, a PA and unit rep at UC Davis.

UPTE members at Mt. San Jacinto Community College are heading into bargaining, and have been calling the college out on their misguided priorities and unfair proposals. These associate faculty members  have expertise in a broad range of fields. They work hard to ensure students from all walks of life, spanning from San Gorgonio Pass to Temecula, meet their academic goals, whether that be transferring to another institution, fulfilling continuing education requirements, enrolling in vocational or technical training, learning new languages, and so much more.

"We teach a majority of the college's classes. We work tirelessly to support student success, including donating thousands of hours a year in unpaid office hours. There would be no college without us. Meanwhile, management has taken on over one hundred million in new construction costs, including a $41-million-dollar athletics complex—all while crying poverty at the bargaining table with the people who keep MSJC running. Our students and associate faculty deserve so much better," said Michael Jones, who teaches in the Digital Media Department at MSJC.

On April 26, hundreds of UC workers and students came together for a powerful town hall hosted by UPTE to discuss the growing mental health crisis on our campuses (you can watch a recording here). We heard from students, UC mental health clinicians, and others who shared powerful stories about the need to expand mental health services, invest in clinicians, and expand transparency around mental health outcomes.

"I'm concerned with the lack of support and investment we receive from UC, which leads to burnout, turnover, and risks to our students' safety. The position in my department that typically sees the most students for therapy has had so much turnover it's hard to keep track of," said Angie Bryan, a behavioral health clinician at UC Santa Barbara.

Case managers are Registered Nurses who manage the discharge of patients and their ongoing treatment plans after leaving the hospital. Yet across the state, UC case managers are increasingly dealing with short staffing, high patient loads, burnout, and turnover as they are forced to do more with less.

Last year, UCSD management took away Case Managers' work spaces, leaving many without a desk and some forced to work in common areas that are disruptive. This leads to delays in patient discharges, a heightened risk of HIPAA violations, and potentially serious mistakes in ongoing treatment plans.

“More than a year before we begin our next contract negotiations, UPTE is more prepared than it has ever been thanks to the hard work of hundreds of Unit and Workplace Representatives.

Thousands of you have already participated in hundreds of contract priority meetings, big and small, over the past 2 months. These are the first step toward a strong, collective understanding of what we want to improve and what it will take to win for all 18,000 of us…”

"Patient care relies on quick and accurate clinical lab results which come from CLS who are scheduled on all shifts, 7 days a week, including all holidays. Our CLS leaders helped to conduct a weekend differential survey that had over 150 participants. This survey, along with data from similar markets helped to push UC to up their original offer of $2.50/hr," said Doug Chin, a Clinical Lac Scientist at UCSF.

"Our wide network of over a dozen CLS leaders across 6 major clinical lab sites played a major part in this victory.”

Student mental health and well-being is an urgent issue. The University of California Office of the President states that, “the status quo is a barrier to mental wellness in California.” So, why is UC is allowing a growing mental health crisis to proliferate on campuses?

Despite repeated calls from Clinicians, UC refuses to take adequate steps to recruit and retain the Behavioral Health Psychiatric Professionals (BHPPs) and Behavioral Health Counselors (BHCs) who support UC students and patients in their most vulnerable moments.

In March, UC Systems Administrators classifications secured significant raises and back pay of up to 21.5% from a settlement negotiated by UPTE at the end of 2022. This win was made possible by the strength we have when we stand together as union members.

“This victory will allow us to continue ensuring that UC’s IT systems are functioning and meeting the needs of our students, faculty, clinicians, patients, and beyond. It’s important to recognize our victories but we also realize that our unions’ work is not done,” said Tom Godfrey, a Systems Administrator with UCI Irvine Health.

We are so proud of what we have all been able to accomplish as a Union in 2022, in preparation for the work that we have ahead of us in 2023 and beyond.

UPTE stands fully in solidarity with 48,000 UAW-represented academic workers who continue a historic strike for fair wages and working conditions for a 4th week.

UC has announced its plan for implementing the 2022 Emergency Paid Sick Leave law recently passed in Sacramento as a result of a broad effort by California Unions and community groups.

We have counted the mail-in ballots received for the 2022 Interim Election. We certify that the ballot tally was fairly and accurately conducted, the secrecy of the ballots was maintained, and that the election results are as indicated as below.

We are happy to report that Systems Administrators 1-3 will finally be receiving the raises from the TX contract, which have been withheld by UC since June of 2019.