Dispatch from Negotiations: UPTE President Dan Russell shares his reactions to our first month of negotiations with the University of California

Make sure you and your coworkers are getting updates from the UPTE bargaining team fighting for fair pay, career progression, work/life balance, safe staffing, and job security—not the team representing management who is negotiating against us.

Watch and share our first Dispatch from Negotiations on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Threads.

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Our first month of bargaining with the University of California for UPTE healthcare, research, and technical members is in the books and our solidarity was on full display all month. You can find bargaining updates after each week of negotiations at www.upte.org/uofcalifornia.

During both weeks of negotiations in San Diego and later San Francisco, members joined us for in-person rallies at lunchtime and packed the bargaining room throughout the rest of the day to observe, show their support for our team, and occasionally provide scheduled testimony on a particular issue. These first-hand accounts, and our visible displays of unity, have a powerful impact on bargaining.

On the second day of negotiations in San Diego, UC’s team took an extended lunch break to avoid facing a crowd of members rallying outside. One day one in San Francisco, they showed up a full hour late to bargaining and refused to stay for hundreds of members who were prepared to observe during lunch, leading to an impromptu rally outside calling on them to get back to the table and negotiate in good faith. Across the state, members wore UPTE stickers, buttons, shirts, and more to show their support.

UC isn’t going to give us everything we ask for because we ask nicely—and their conduct in bargaining with our sister union AFSCME 3299 has made that clear. UC is offering AFSCME members only 5% in 2025, including steps - doing nothing to address the inflation of the past 3 years. They also rejected AFSCME’s vacation and work/life balance proposals.

Everything we do this year has to show UC that we are united and prepared  to pull off a super-majority strike statewide if they continue committing illegal and unfair labor practices or fail to take our proposals seriously. 

We're hopeful we can quickly reach a deal at the table, but we’re also beginning to educate each other early about our rights if a strike becomes necessary. UC needs to see that we’re ready to fight to win the world-class contract we deserve. If you’re eager to get strike school scheduled at your workplace, reach out to your local leadership and staff organizers and let them know. Otherwise, we’ll be sharing more details soon.

Our next round of bargaining will take place on July 18-19 at UCLA. If you’re in the LA area, stay tuned for details if you’re able to join us. 

In solidarity,

Dan Russell

UPTE President & Chief Negotiator

Bargaining Update #2: UPTE’s bargaining team presents our first work/life balance proposals

On June 25-26th, your UPTE bargaining team passed our first set of work-life balance proposals, focused on priorities set by you and your coworkers regarding Vacation, Holidays, and Sick Time.

We also rallied at Mission Bay on Tuesday and Parnassus on Wednesday to put our solidarity on full display for UC administrators, and send a message that we're united and ready to act to win the world-class agreement we deserve. Check out photos (Facebook,Instagram, Twitter) and a video recap (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) on UPTE social media, and share to help us build momentum.

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UPTE's Work/Life Balance Proposals

Vacation Proposal:

• 24 vacation days per year at hire

• Right to cash out accrued vacation days

• Automatic cash out of vacation accruals if at maximum 

• Management must provide alternate vacation dates if a request is denied

• No revocation of approved vacation except in emergencies

Sick Leave Proposal:

• 5 days of bereavement, in addition to sick leave, which would cover miscarriage and IVF failure

• Sick leave for Per Diem workers

Holidays Proposal:

• Add Juneteenth and 7 floating holidays

• Improved holiday pay

• Guarantee for at least 1 major 2-day holiday off

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Our research shows that UPTE members' combined holidays, sick, and vacation accruals are far below competitor institutions as well as other workers at UC. 

• UC Librarians and Academic Researchers start their careers with 24 days of vacation, 9 more than UPTE members. 

• UC managers start with 3 more vacation days than us, increasing to 6 more at their 5 year anniversary. 

• By their 11-year anniversary, many Kaiser workers get between 8-12 more total days off than UPTE members - as well as up to 5 bereavement days.

UPTE's proposal for 7 floating holidays would help workers subject to mandatory winter campus closures, celebrate holidays that the University does not recognize, and provide more time off to recover from stressful periods at work.

In response to UPTE's proposal to provide sick leave to Per Diem workers, the University asked whether "there was any thought to lowering per diem pay in exchange for a costly benefit?" UPTE was clear that it would not because sick leave is a mutual benefit for the employer, protecting workers from having to come in to work sick and infecting other colleagues and patients.

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The University's actions thus far run completely counter to their claim that their "priorities [...] include fair pay and quality benefits, supportive working conditions, and efficient, good-faith negotiations."

UC once again made no proposals to address the crisis of burnout, recruitment, and retention and did not address any of our priorities: pay, classification, work-life balance, job security, or staffing. Instead, UC's clearest and most significant proposal thus far would prevent UPTE leaders from directly approaching our managers to resolve workplace issues, unless the manager agrees in advance. 

UC's bargaining team did not respond to UPTE's proposal regarding classification and career progression. More than 300 UPTE members joined bargaining rallies on Tuesday and Wednesday. Despite advance requests to meet when workers would be available to observe, the UC bargaining team left the room rather than face 150 workers who came out on their Tuesday lunch break.

UC continues to insist on having nearly identical conversations for healthcare workers on one day and research and technical workers the next day. UPTE has repeatedly proposed to discuss all bargaining units at the same time, which the University continues to reject - inevitably dragging negotiations out unnecessarily.

UC knows that we have the power to force them to invest in those of us that make patient care, research, and education happen.

That's why UC bargaining team's priorities are to keep you out of the room, in the dark, and unable to address problems directly in the workplace while they drag out negotiations.

Let's work together to reset their priorities: reach out if you can help us schedule an UPTE Strike School for you and your colleagues, where we'll learn our rights and strategy to win.

Our next bargaining session will be at UCLA on July 18-19th. UCLA members, watch for an email with information on how to participate!

Bargaining Update #1: June 11 - 13

At our first contract bargaining session at UCSD last week, UPTE's statewide bargaining team came prepared to bargain. We presented a detailed proposal to fix broken career ladders across the state. Our proposals require measurable, objective criteria to reach higher titles in a job series, and create an enforceable guarantee to receive that title and pay from the date you begin performing those duties. 

UCSD members came prepared as well. Hundreds of members from UC San Diego came out to show their support for UPTE's proposals, to listen, and share powerful testimonials and case reports from across the system showing how the same problems impact workers across titles & UC campuses.

UPTE members like you shared powerful examples of how losing qualified staff due to broken or non-existent career ladders endangers patient care and research at UC. It was powerful having members pack the room, rally outside, and show UC we're serious.

You can watch and share video recaps on UPTE social media from day one (Facebook, Instagram) and day two (Facebook, Instagram).

What did UC do during bargaining last week?

Instead of making substantive proposals, the University proposed limitations to who could participate in bargaining, including that we wouldn't even be allowed to share this update with you today! 

UC negotiators are refusing to meet with us on the vast UCLA and UC Davis campuses, and are attempting to prevent us from bargaining in places accessible to you and your coworkers to attend. UPTE reiterated our insistence that bargaining be open to your participation.

Why are the UC's representatives focusing on keeping you and your colleagues away from bargaining instead of passing proposals that address our concerns? Because they understand that if thousands of UPTE members come together, we have the power to reset UC's priorities and force them to invest more in patient care, research, and the frontline workers who carry out their mission.

What do we do next? Make sure to join an UPTE Bargaining Strategy & Strike School, scheduled by your Unit and Workplace representatives, to learn more about what our options will be if UC does not bargain in good faith and settle a fair contract in the coming months. A schedule and more details will be coming soon.

We know from experience that UC administrators will alter their behavior only once they see us ready to act. If you want to help schedule a Strike School session in your Department, reach out to your campus Organizer at upte.org/contact.

Our next bargaining session will be at UCSF on June 25-26th. Please plan to join us if you work at UCSF or live close by! 

In solidarity,
Your UPTE Bargaining Team

Over 9,000 members vote to affirm our bargaining principles

Between April 4 and 18, over 9,000 members cast their ballots to overwhelmingly ratify our 2024 Contract Platform. We're proud that with a majority of all UPTE workers at UC casting a ballot, more than 99% voted YES to stand behind our proposals to reset UC's priorities.

This high engagement means that our bargaining team will have a better understanding of what our members want—and that our members will be prepared to take action to win those things quickly. We should celebrate this accomplishment, but we should also see it as a stepping stone in our larger campaign to win a world-class contract for UC workers this year. 

This platform ratification was the culmination of more than a year of hard work from UPTE leaders who engaged nearly four times as many members as were engaged in our previous contract negotiations, first through a form that collected everyone's top 3 priorities and then through a bargaining survey with the top issues that emerged from those priorities.

We'll be sharing the next steps soon, but the most important thing we can always do is talk to our coworkers about the importance of joining and being active in our union. If you want to get involved in this work with us, please reach out and let us know.

Let's keep up the momentum and continue to work towards a fair and promising future for us all. Together, we can continue to build a stronger, more inclusive union that represents the goals and priorities of every UPTE member at the University of California. 

Dan Russell, UPTE President
Business Technical Support Analyst 3
UC Berkeley - TX Unit