Bargaining Updates

UPTE and the University have completed the final steps of the state-mandated impasse process with the release of a report by a neutral arbitrator. The report is not binding on either party: it is intended to help reach agreement but does not restrict UPTE's right to strike in order to win our demands.

Fact finding reports typically recommend the status quo and UC was unable to make such a case for their proposal to remove healthcare premium caps, leading the fact finder to conclude:

"This credit-based model does not exist in any other UC collective bargaining agreement. All comparator unions rely on premium caps or tiered structures—not flat monthly credits—to manage cost exposure. Furthermore, UC's proposed model lacks a cap on total employee premium increases, meaning that even with the credit, employees could face unbounded financial liability."

In 2019, the fact finder recommended against UC's proposal to cut the pension for new hires and remove healthcare premium caps. It was not the fact finding report that moved UC but thousands of UPTE members going on strike. Click here to RSVPfor our webinar on Tuesday, July 22nd at noon to hear more about the next steps in our fight!

Over the past weeks, we have seen a familiar pattern from UC San Diego Health and UCSF Health executives: laying off frontline workers despite healthy reserves and revenues. Instead, these layoffs were likely aimed at securing more favorable terms for acquisition and construction plans.

Fortunately, UPTE's Workplace Representative Councils jumped into action, organizing mass actions, telling our stories of patient care and operational impacts publicly, and winning a reversal of a majority of these layoffs.

Leaders from UC San Francisco and UC San Diego will share their experiences in organizing and winning next Tuesday, July 22, 2025, via Zoom. RSVP here now!

While we continue to analyze the potential effects of the recent budgetary legislation passed by Congress, cuts to National Institutes of Health- and National Science Foundation-funded projects seem inevitable. However, given the high turnover in many research support roles, if UC committed to retraining and redeployment, it could seriously reduce the possibility of layoffs. Forcing them to do this, however, will require a fight.

UC executives know how to turn a crisis into an opportunity. We saw this when they used the pandemic to withhold raises, freeze hiring, and increase workloads while stockpiling billions of dollars more in investments.

It is more important than ever for us to organize to win strong contracts with improved layoff protections, benefits, and career advancement to protect staffing levels and protect research, education, and patient care.

Join us on Tuesday, July 22, at noon to hear the latest updates from bargaining, learn how we can fight back against layoffs, and discover our plan to win strong contracts that protect our colleagues, patients, research, and students.

UPTE met with UC on July 8 and 9, where UC provided "a new package of proposals" that includes no raises in 2028, no limits on increases to healthcare costs, no increased time off, and no right to vacant positions prior to layoff.

The most meaningful improvement was UC agreeing to UPTE's proposal to expand preferential rehire rights from just someone's home campus (e.g., UCSF) to all UC campuses and extend recall and rehire rights for HX unit members to three years for those with more than ten years of service (matching the RX & TX bargaining units). However, UC proposed reducing recall and rehire rights for those at Berkeley Lab (LBNL) from three years to one year, without providing an explanation.

Check out a summary of UPTE's proposals compared to UC's here.

This is all two months after our last bargaining session, demonstrating that UC is still not taking the ongoing crisis of recruitment and retention seriously. We have now missed a step increase and an across-the-board raise due to UC's stalling and unfair labor practices.

We have not fought this long and hard to accept less than UC has already agreed to with our AFSCME 3299 and CNA colleagues when it comes to compensation and job security, or less vacation time than other UC professionals. As UC sows confusion and misinformation about supposed 'financial constraints' while spending tens of billions on expansion and new construction, it is more important than ever that we hold the line on these issues.

As you may have heard, UC San Diego and UC San Francisco announced significant, hospital-wide layoffs last week, with top hospital leadership demanding cuts of 1.5% and 1% of payroll across the board.

Though these cuts were supposedly due to financial necessity, we know that these hospitals are sitting on billions of dollars in reserves—and that these layoffs are likely related to a desire to best position the hospitals to finance even further expansion. UCSF and UC San Diego each have ongoing and planned capital expansion projects totaling more than $10 billion.

Laying off frontline staff to finance expansion projects, amidst a well-documented crisis of short staffing, is unacceptable and puts patient care, research, and education at risk.

That's why UPTE's Unit Representatives at both campuses sprang into action, calling emergency meetings and organizing mass meetings to protest the layoffs, and joining pickets in solidarity with AFSCME and CNA workers who are also facing layoffs. UPTE members spoke to the press about the impacts of layoffs on patient care and operations, garnering important coverage across the state, including in the San Francisco Chronicle and 10News – ABC San Diego KGTV.

Thanks to our quick response, some layoffs have already been rescinded, and we are continuing to build pressure to rescind the rest.

Tuesday, July 8, and Wednesday, July 9, will be our 13th bargaining session, and UC is refusing to provide a bargaining location at either UC Berkeley or UC San Francisco. We are looking into alternative locations in the Bay Area.

After more than a year of bargaining, why is UC not doing its part to reach a fair agreement that addresses the recruitment and retention crisis?

The most recent state budget has restored UC's expected fundingcompletely—and thus far, no major federal funding cuts have been made. Yet UC continues to use uncertainty as an excuse to dig in their heels on the same unfair proposals they made a year ago.

We hope that incoming UC President James B. Milliken will recognize that our demands are reasonable and that now is the time to settle a contract that will end the recruitment and retention crisis.

Under President Milliken's leadership at the City University of New York, workers started their careers with eight more days off per year (sick, vacation, and holidays combined) than UPTE members do, and have 15 more days off per year than we do after ten years of service. They also receive up to four days of bereavement leave per year, which does not count against their sick leave accruals.

However, UC has thus far refused any increase in paid time off—even though other UC employees already receive up to nine days more off per year than we do.

UPTE met with UC again on Thursday, May 8, and Friday, May 9, in Los Angeles. Hundreds of workers packed into UPTE's offices after the University refused to allow members to attend bargaining at the UCLA Faculty Club. Clinical research coordinators, clinical lab scientists, social workers, and case managers delivered powerful testimony about the impact of insufficient work-life balance, reclassification, and pay on their patients, research, and students.

UC provided a new proposal on layoffs in which it agreed to release non-career employees (including contractors) prior to any layoffs, but it still did not commit to providing vacant positions to employees facing layoff, as it has for our 60,000 colleagues in AFSCME and CNA.

UC also confirmed that it is proposing no steps or raises in 2028. We are already 5% behind our nurse colleagues—what will falling even further behind mean for our families, patients, research, and students?

UPTE responded to UC's proposal on layoffs and an earlier UC proposal on reclassification, in which UC agreed to a 90-day response time for reclassification requests.

Go here to see an updated side-by-side comparison of UPTE and UC's bargaining proposals.

While UC is slowly moving in the right direction on some issues, UC leadership is failing to acknowledge the urgency of the recruitment and retention crisis. It will be up to you and your colleagues to continue our campaign to make that urgency felt.

It was incredible to see thousands of UPTE members striking in response to UC's illegal hiring freeze on May Day. We marched alongside hundreds of others from unions and community groups protesting attacks on workers' rights. As our numbers and support grow strike after strike, UC knows that we are not backing down in our fight for our patients, research, and students.

On Friday, the UC Regents appointed James Milliken as UC President. He will be paid 13% more than outgoing President Drake: $1.475 million annually. UPTE members were present at the Regents meeting to remind them that we are not going to stand by while they prioritize executive pay and expanding their market share over frontline workers and those we serve.

Our CNA-represented nurse colleagues are preparing to start bargaining this summer and will be joining UPTE, AFSCME, and other UC unions for a joint Webinar on UC's healthcare cuts at 6PM tomorrow, May 6th. Our unions remain united and prepared to defeat UC's healthcare cuts just like we have done in the past. RSVP here to join!

When we return to bargaining on Thursday at UCLA, we will find out whether UC is ready to seriously engage in discussions over our priorities. Meanwhile, we will be planning meetings in every department around the state to discuss our next steps.

UPTE has agreed to return to the bargaining table on Thursday, May 8, and Friday, May 9, 2025, after receiving an improved proposal from UC on reclassification via email.

In its new proposal, UC has agreed to UPTE's proposal for an initial response to reclassification requests within ninety days, a significant improvement from having no timeline in our current contract and UC's initial proposal of 210 days. However, the University has not agreed to address the lack of clear and objective criteria or an enforceable appeals process.

Now, we need to keep up the pressure to let UC know we won't back down: UC needs to offer solutions to the staffing crisis, bargain in good faith, and end its unfair labor practices. RSVP for our May 1 ULP strike against UC’s unlawful hiring freeze today at upte.org/ucstrike.

UPTE will be striking at all UC locations on Thursday, May 1, 2025 in response to UC's unfair labor practices. Learn more at upte.org/ucstrike.

On March 19, UC publicly announced a hiring freeze and has since implemented it at campuses without providing UPTE notice, let alone an opportunity to bargain over the freeze or its effects on our members—as it is legally required to do now that our contracts have expired.

Some campuses even apply the freeze to decisions about existing employees, such as reclassifications, promotions, equity increases, and conversion of term-limited employees to career employees.

After UPTE submitted a cease and desist and demand to bargain, the University explicitly refused to undo the hiring freeze so we could bargain. UC has also committed additional unfair practices like denying pension credit to workers at the hospitals it has acquired without bargaining, leaving these new workers behind, even as UC expands its market share. 

This is all despite UC's holding more than $26 billion in liquid capital and a judge issuing a permanent stay on threatened across-the-board cuts to indirect cost reimbursements for research grants.

Our unfair labor practice strike on April 1 forced UC executives to admit to California legislators in a March 31st communique, that "the strikes in November and February cost UC tens of millions of dollars each day to staff our medical centers and campuses." This is presumably in addition to lost revenues from things like cancelled surgeries, which are likely in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Why does UC continue to provoke costly, disruptive strikes at the same time that announces a hiring freeze based on supposed financial uncertainty? UC executives are panicked about the power and determination of our campaign and are saying whatever they can to try to slow us down.

This week, UPTE filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge over the University's imposition of the hiring freeze, which would further undermine patient care, research, and education across the state. UC knows what it has to do to avoid further strikes - end its unfair labor practices and bargain in good faith with all UPTE members over our proposals to end the recruitment and retention crisis.

On April 1, twenty thousand UPTE members at every University of California healthcare center, campus, and key laboratories participated in an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike. The strike was in response to UC’s decision to engage in a pattern of illegal behavior including continued attempts to unilaterally and unlawfully increase health insurance costs for some of the most vulnerable union members outside of the bargaining process. UC has also forced newly organized groups of workers into their own separate negotiation process, which has rendered the bargaining process hopelessly impractical and ineffective—a classic “divide-and-conquer” strategy that violates the law. 

“We believe UC’s priority should be the people of California and that they have an obligation to follow the law just like any other employer in our state. When they egregiously trample on our legal rights and protections, it emboldens other wealthy and powerful bullies to do the same to the rest of us—but we’re willing to fight to hold them accountable. It isn’t clear to us why UC has such a hard time respecting the rights of workers. What is clear is that when frontline workers speak out about the staffing crisis, UC is quick to dismiss it—while executives will report the same concerns internally,” said Amy Fletcher, a Staff Research Associate at UC Davis and a member of UPTE’s bargaining team. 

UPTE will be striking all UC locations on April 1 in response to UC’s unfair labor practices. 

During our contract negotiations, UC has refused to bargain over pay scales and other issues unique to the thousands of workers in non-union titles who joined UPTE in the past few years, most recently Research and Development Engineers. Many of these workers have been attempting to bargain separately for more than three years now.

UC wants every new title to keep being stuck in a separate bargaining process forever—in short, an illegal “divide-and-conquer” tactic that ultimately UC could extend to all of us simply by moving us to non-union titles. 

UC also imposed higher healthcare premiums during bargaining for many workers—unilaterally, with no prior notice, even though UC promised that it would not increase premiums while it was bargaining with us. 

Be sure to RSVP now at upte.org/ucstrike and plan to join us on the picket lines on April 1.

Next week, UPTE and UC will begin fact-finding, the final step of the impasse process, before we can call a strike over our bargaining demands. As part of this, we are reminded of where UC’s contract proposals would leave us in three years: far behind other UC workers and our top competitors.

UC’s recruitment and retention crisis is due in large part to its failure to meet industry standards in key areas. If we continue to fall even further behind—and lose more committed colleagues each year—what will that mean for our patients, research, and students?

How far behind would UC’s proposals put us?

UC continues to claim that there is no staffing crisis—and that it is offering proposals that address our concerns. Make sure your co-workers understand the truth—and what is at stake.

Last week's strike was not just the largest in UPTE's history - it was the first time UPTE members had shut UC down statewide on our own. 

The sea of blue formed by thousands and thousands of UPTE members marching across the state is the strongest and clearest rebuttal of UC's claim that "there is no crisis of recruitment and retention" and their attempt to silence frontline workers.

We hope UC has heard us and is prepared to work with us rather than continuing on the current course of violating the law by committing unfair labor practices. If they do not, we know what we have to do. 

We are scheduling hundreds of meetings across the state in the next 2-3 weeks to debrief the strike and discuss how we make our next strike even stronger, if that becomes necessary. 

Our statewide strike vote has closed, and today, UPTE is announcing a statewide strike from February 26 to 28, 2025, in response to UC's ongoing unfair labor practices. You can check out our announcement in the Los Angeles Times.

You should not report to work for any shifts between 12 am (midnight) on February 26 and 11:59 pm on February 28. You should complete any shifts that start on February 25 and continue into February 26—do not stop work mid-shift. Check out our FAQs about the strike here. 

Four times as many UPTE members participated this time compared to our last statewide strike vote in 2018, voting to authorize the strike by 98%. Instead of working together to address the recruitment and retention crisis, UC is attempting to silence workers for speaking out for our patients, research, and students.

RSVP for our UPTE Statewide Strike Town Hall on Wednesday, February 19, 2025, from noon to 1 pm. We'll discuss the strike vote results, our next steps, and how we can stand together to protect our rights.

More than 9,000 of our UC colleagues across the state cast their ballots in the first week of voting. Now, we're focused on making sure that we finish the week strong so we can send a clear message to UC that we won't tolerate unfair labor practices or their misplaced priorities any longer.

Over the past two years, thousands of clinicians, researchers, and technical support professionals came together to identify the changes we need to continue providing the best research, patient care, and education. Instead of engaging in good faith with our 20,000 colleagues, UC has violated state law dozens of times.

Let's put an end to the bad-faith bargaining and unfair practices hurting patients, research, and students with a strong YES vote to authorize a statewide strike if necessary.

My name is Ursula Quinn. I'm an Occupational Therapist at UCLA and a leader in our union, UPTE. Over 6,000 members cast their ballots on the first day of our statewide strike vote. Will you to join us in voting YES to strike today at upte.org/vote?

For the last seven months, UC has refused to meaningfully address our priorities and concerns. We tell them about our dedication to world-class patient care, innovative research, and high-quality education for our students—all of which depend on sustainable working conditions and an end to the staffing and recruitment crisis. Instead of meaningful counterproposals, they respond with bad faith bargaining and other unfair labor practices, like illegally implemented healthcare cost increases and interfering with our union rights.

Our UCSF colleagues have already led the way to hold UC accountable with their powerful strike last November—now, it's up to the rest of us to step up. Please join more than 6,000 other UPTE members and visit upte.org/vote to cast your YES vote now.

Our strike vote is live. Please visit upte.org/vote to cast your ballot now.

I and our bargaining team encourage you to vote YES and ask you to encourage all your co-workers to do so as well. 

A strong YES vote will send UC the strongest possible message that you are prepared to strike for as many days as necessary to win a strong contract, end their unfair labor practices, and ready to stand in solidarity with our AFSCME colleagues. 

UC's representatives have made it increasingly clear: UC administrators will not engage with the urgent demands set out by clinicians, researchers, and frontline staff without the pressure of a strike.

Vote to strike at upte.org/vote and make sure all of your coworkers vote today.

Workers across the state report that UC has illegally implemented increased co-pays—which was one of the bases for our November unfair labor practice strike at UCSF—and has now made new changes to premiums.

Increased monthly co-insurance of $150 for specialty drugs hit the lowest paid workers hardest and are especially cruel to those of us who need these drugs for ourselves or family members battling life-threatening illnesses or just to live happy and productive lives. UC made these changes even though unilateral changes are unlawful during bargaining, despite our active unfair labor practice charges over this illegal action.

"The increase in specialty drug co-insurance, from $40 to $150, has a significant financial impact on my family and countless other patients who are facing similar increases. Such increases can mean difficult decisions between paying for essential treatments or other basic needs, further exacerbating the financial burdens that already come with managing chronic health conditions."

Judd Laraway
UPTE Bargaining Team Member
UC San Diego Senior Physician Assistant

Step increases were not processed for the first full pay period in January because, after 7 months of bargaining, UC continues to bargain in bad faith and has refused to engage over our bargaining priorities meaningfully.

A statewide strike authorization vote will begin on February 3rd. This vote will ask you to authorize UPTE leadership to call strikes in response to UC's ongoing bad-faith bargaining or other unfair labor practices UC commits, failure to agree to your bargaining priorities, and in solidarity with our AFSCME 3299 siblings who are also fighting for similar demands to protect our patients, research, and students.  

The next step in negotiations - mediation - has been scheduled for January 28-29. While we hope that UC will engage in mediation in good faith, UC has shown no inclination to do so at the bargaining table. Neither mediation nor the impasse process ultimately requires UC to make movement in their bargaining proposals - that is ultimately up to our willingness to take collective action. Click here for a brief explanation of the "impasse" process.