Three things to know about “UC’s Last, Best, and Final Offer”
We have learned over the last 15 months that we won't get answers from UC at the bargaining table. We will only get answers—and the contract we deserve—by showing UC that we aren't going to be tricked into backing down from our fight.
UC wants us to think that their "Last, Best, Final" offer is a great deal. What is the truth?
UC has the money—and has never explained its opposition to UPTE's proposals, including those that are low or no cost
Despite UC's claims about "financial challenges," UC has $26 billion in liquid capital, $41 billion in endowments, and courts have consistently rejected the Federal Government's attempts to cut UC's funding. Even if any of those cuts materialize, UC has the resources to weather a shortfall.
Moreover, UC has never said it is rejecting our proposals because they are too expensive or it couldn't afford them.
In fact, some of UPTE's proposals would save the University money - like UPTE's proposal for UC to offer vacant positions to workers who are facing layoff and who are qualified for those positions. This is a win-win: it lets UC retain institutional knowledge and avoid an expensive, time-consuming talent search. Plus, UC has already agreed to this with AFSCME and CNA. UC has never explained why it has rejected this proposal.
UPTE's proposal to increase vacation time would also be a low-to-no cost proposal. If UC were to provide UPTE employees with the same vacation accruals it already provides to Librarians, Academic Researchers, other professionals, managers, and executives - it would amount to an average of 3.5 more vacation days per employee per year. The actual cost would be far lower given that in most cases the same amount of work will get done in less time. Study after study shows that a reduced workweek leads to improvements in productivity, morale, and retention.
2. UC's offer would allow for unlimited hikes to our healthcare costs
Did you know that many of UC's competitors provide free healthcare options?
Kaiser Permanente, Stanford University, Sutter Healthcare, Dignity Healthcare (some of its facilities acquired by UCSF), Tenet Healthcare (some of its facilities acquired by UCI), and Children's Hospital Oakland (affiliated with UCSF), to name a few.
We are simply asking UC to keep our healthcare affordable. As a much larger institution than all of the above competitors (other than Kaiser), why is UC trying to shift the costs of healthcare on to us?
3. UC's economic proposals would leave all of us further and further behind our colleagues
UC's proposal would leave us all at least 5% behind UC nurses and Kaiser workers—and would set us up to fall further and further behind each year if UC can raise healthcare costs without limits.
UC's proposal leaves Researchers & Technical workers without a step increase in 2027. It leaves Berkeley Lab workers even further behind—with no step increases or guaranteed raises; entirely at the whims of management's subjective, performance-based "matrix" system.
While UC's proposed "market-based adjustments" are another sign that UC is feeling our pressure, they come nowhere close to bringing our titles to market and don't seem to follow any logic. UC Los Angeles, the campus with the second most UPTE employees, proposed no adjustments; nor did UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside, UC Merced, nor Berkeley Lab. No adjustments were proposed for our entire Research Unit—more than 6,000 workers statewide - who are perhaps the farthest behind market wages.
If you have questions about UC's "Last, Best, Final Offer," contact your Bargaining Team Representative or Organizer today.
If you haven't already, click here to vote YES to strike today - and encourage your co-workers to do the same.
In solidarity,
Dan Russell
UPTE President & Chief Negotiator
Business Technology Support Analyst, UC Berkeley
