How our tentative agreement will change my life
I’m an Animal Health Technician at UCSF who has faced significant financial struggles while pouring my heart into my work. At the beginning of our journey for a new contract, my goal was to show UC that their undervalued staff were so much more than just numbers on a badge—UPTE workers are the strong foundation on which patient care, research, and education are built.
That’s why I’m proud to vote YES on our tentative agreement, and why I am writing today to ask you to join me at upte.org/vote.
I’ve told my story countless times over the last many months, and I’ve seen how my experience resonates with colleagues; perhaps their family members would benefit from our neurodegenerative disease research, or maybe because they, too, were single parents attempting to make ends meet while the cost of living soared.
Maybe my story resonated because, like me, they had to resort to desperate measures to house themselves while working in the most expensive areas of the country by seeking out hotels, hostels, or sleeping in their cars. This should never happen to workers at one of the wealthiest institutions on earth.
Our stories are too seldom told, but when we are brave enough to tell them, they inspire others to work together to transform our work and our lives. The next step in that journey is voting yes on our tentative agreement now.
Our tentative agreement represents significant progress in resetting UC's priorities and making our work more sustainable. The year-to-year raises, equity pool adjustments, and our triumph on enforcing a $25 minimum across all of our job titles will be transformative for my colleagues who, like me, have long been overlooked by UC. This contract is proof positive that when we fight, we win.
Today, I am overjoyed that I will be able to afford a safe place to sleep close enough to commute to my job at UCSF. I am thrilled that my coworkers will finally be able to provide for their families without having to worry about how they're going to pay the bills. And I am emboldened to keep telling my story, which is now not just a story of loss, but of victory.
Let's carry on together, like we have from the beginning, towards ratifying this historic agreement by voting yes at upte.org/vote.
Sí se puede,
Carina Jauregui
UPTE Unit Representative
Animal Health Technician 4, UC San Francisco
