Members of the United Auto Workers union, which represents teaching assistants, readers and tutors on the eight undergraduate University of California campuses, ratified an agreement with the UC on Saturday.

According to a statement on Saturday, the contracts were finalized with an overwhelming number of union members supporting their conditions.

The vote was 1,682 to 26 in favor of the proposed contract. A tentative agreement was reached Dec. 2.

The new contracts will be effective Jan. 1, 2004 through Sept. 30, 2006.

In the event that an agreement was not reached, the TAs were scheduled to strike during 10th and finals weeks.

As a result of the negotiations, all members will receive a minimum of a 1.5 percent wage increase starting next year. In addition, members will be included in any additional general wage increase given to the faculty at the schools.

Even with increases in fees, graduate students working at least 10 hours a week will still have remission of their education, registration and health care fees.

According to the statement, union members will gain rights that they previously did not have, such as workload protections, appointment notification and appointment security.

The union will also have access to new employee orientations to inform all of its members about their rights and benefits under the new contract.

All new employees will also receive a membership form for the union when they complete other employment paperwork.

“We are hopeful that this contract signals a new era of productive and cooperative labor relations between the union and the university,” said Rajan Mehta, a UAW bargaining team member from UC Berkeley.

UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale said in a Friday interview that he also hopes the situation improves in the future.

“We can only hope the budget situation will be improved so we won’t be faced with these types of situations,” Carnesale said, referring to the next time the contracts will be negotiated – which will be in three years.

UAW represents over 11,000 TAs, readers and tutors.