Bargaining Update #12: Progress—but a long way to go

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.

“I work with children who have some of the most severe forms of epilepsy in the region. I help families cope emotionally, access resources, and navigate systems that are often confusing and overwhelming.

Many of these families are in crisis—facing housing instability, food insecurity, and round-the-clock caregiving demands. But because of how UC staffs our clinics, not every patient is assigned a social worker. We're stretched so thin that we can only consistently see patients who meet narrow insurance criteria—not because it's best for patient care, but because that's all the staffing allows.”

Jessica Appell
UPTE Workplace Representative
Clinical social worker 2, UC Los Angeles

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.

You should soon hear from your UPTE organizer, unit, or workplace representative about a departmental meeting in June where we will discuss our strategy to step up our pressure on UC.

In solidarity,

Dan Russell
UPTE President
UPTE Chief Negotiator
BTSA, UC Berkeley