UPTE, UC in contract talks; negotiations may end soon
Raises sought by three units of union; merit raises sticky issue
By Chris Goodmacher
Daily Bruin Contributor
The University Professional and Technical Employees union and the University of California have been in contract negotiations for six months.
As yet unresolved, the negotiations came to a head last Thursday when union members marched on the UCLA Medical Center, demanding that Dr. Michael Karpf, director of the medical center, and Dr. Gerald Levey, provost of medical sciences, address their concerns.
“We want the leadership of this hospital to influence labor relations to move toward a fair and equitable agreement,” said Wendy Mullen, a healthcare bargaining representative for UPTE.
Maure Gardner, manager of labor relations for UCLA health care, said management would prefer to address staff problems through “legally established mechanisms for labor management relations,” such as a forum.
Contract negotiations for the three units of employees UPTE represents – technical, health care and research workers – have been in negotiation since June.
Negotiations for each unit of employees are for all UC employees in the group.
“We targeted the UCLA Medical Center because employees from all three of our units work there,” said Cliff Fried, executive vice president of UPTE.
The hospital march was part of a statewide action by UPTE that took different forms throughout the UC system, according to Fried.
According to UC spokesman Dan Kier, UPTE health care employees are demanding a 7 percent yearly raise, with merit raises and raises for certain underpaid jobs.
The UC is offering a 2.8 percent yearly raise for employees making less than $40,000 a year, and a 1.8 percent yearly raise for employees making $40,000-80,000 a year.
Also on the table is a 1.5-6.5 percent merit raise and raises for certain underpaid jobs.
Merit raises vary depending on job performance, and the raises for certain underpaid jobs are based on market value and are for certain employees whose wages lag behind the market, Kier said.
Research employees are demanding a 10 percent yearly raise across the board, compared with the 2.3-4.3 percent raises the UC is offering. The university is also offering merit raises averaging 3 percent.
Technical employees are demanding 7 percent yearly raises plus merit raises.
The UC is putting up 4.8 percent for employees making less than $40,000 a year, and a 3.8 percent yearly raise for employees making $40,000-80,000 a year, plus merit raises which average 5 percent a year.
“Everybody gets some kind of merit raise,” Kier said. “How large it is depends on their review.”
Health care and research employees are renegotiating only their wages, while technical employees began renegotiating their whole contract in anticipation of its running out, which it did in September.
“There are 40 articles in the contract, we re-opened 20 of them,” said Steve Perlmutter, senior studio projectionist and bargaining representative for the technical employees. “We felt they really had problems in the language.”
A number of key issues for UPTE health care employees include moving from merit-based pay to across the board increases for employee, Mullen said.
They also hope to settle the issue of topping out in which their merit raises are limited.
“I’ve been here eight years, I topped out about four years ago,” Perlmutter said.
The UC recently settled with other employee groups represented by the Federated University Police Office Association, Coalition of Union Employees, and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees unions and several months ago with the California Nurses Association union.
According to Fried, these workers have received increases across the board ranging from 5.5 percent to 6.8 percent.
“Those wage increases were spread out over a three-year contract,” Kier said. “You can’t make a straight across comparison.”
Negotiators meet on average every two weeks for about three days at a time, alternating sites between northern and southern California.
There is a $1.9 billion unrestricted fund the university could use to increase wages, according to Fried.
“It has the name unrestricted because of the type of fund it is, which receives money and pays money, it’s an accounting term,” Kier said. “It goes to operation and pays for things like parking services.
“There’s no $1.9 billion sitting around every year,” he continued.
Accusing the UC of unfair bargaining practices, Fried said UPTE “will be filing a charge against UC for failure to bargain in good faith in the near future.”
Kier was unable to comment on the union’s allegations when he was reached because of a lack of time.
Fried also cited a high turnover rate for employees as an example of employee dissatisfaction.
“The university is aware of the retention problem. We believe we have very strong offers on the table,” Kier said. “Combined with merit, many yearly raises are 7-8 percent. We believe this will help retention problems.”
Both UC and UPTE representatives are hoping for a conclusion to negotiations by the beginning of next year.
“The things we have on the table are pretty important to us,” Perlmutter said. “We’re not going to back down so easily.”
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