Bargaining
Local 3 Bargaining Report - 8/31/2009
Local 3 Bargaining Report
The CUE Bargaining Team met with UC on August 26 - 28 at the Office of the President at 300 Lakeside Drive in Oakland.
I would like to thank the 4 members of the Berkeley campus that came over; your support is greatly appreciated: Ute Rupp, Michelle Good, Elena Zaslavsky and Linda Morgan; and Loys Everett from UCOP.
During the session the team worked on and gave proposals to UC for the Health and Safety (Art. 8) and Layoff (Art. 13) articles. The CUE team also engaged in more questions with the UC team regarding the Salary Reduction and Furlough Plan.
We are making every attempt to try and gain certain guarantees in regards to the program and its effects, but have been unable thus far to get a guarantee of no layoffs during the life of the program. It is clear to us that even with a guarantee of no layoffs in relation to the salary reduction/furlough program; UC can and will find other reasons to lay off its employees.
Local 3 Bargaining Report - 8/18/2009
The Bargaining Team met with UC on August 13 and 14th on the Riverside campus and more than twenty Riverside CUEsters came to support and observe over the two day period. They asked many insightful questions and gave their testimonies to UC, which definitely made an impact on the team.
This is a fiscal crisis for the state, not the university. In September CUE will be launching, "UC's Hidden Wealth," and presentations/Town Hall meetings will be scheduled across the state to enlighten and educate employees of the $5.3 billion in unrestricted funds that UC currently has. The crisis that we are in exists because UC continues to drain the state funds (19900 funds) by giving that money to its executives, (http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/aar/comp.html )and senior managers, as observed by looking at the stipends, raises and bonuses given out the same day as the Regents voted on J2, seen at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/jul09/j2.pdf.
BARGAINING REPORT
The CUE bargaining team has met with UC on April 22-24 at UC Irvine, May 27-29 at UC Davis, June 1-3 at UCOP, and again on June 9 and 10 at UC Los Angeles. The team also met on Saturday, June 30, with Peter Donahue (economist) to go over UC's Hidden Wealth. This will be discussed more at a later date and presentations will be given across the state. Here are some facts that may interest you: student tuition and fees has increased 277% since 2001, only 30% of CUE salaries comes from State appropriations, 6% from tuition and fees, and 41% from UC sales and services.
Bargaining Report May 29
It has been brought to my attention that as the bargainer for Local 3, I need to begin to send bargaining reports to the entire jurisdiction. Although, I have been giving reports to the Local Eboard and at the General Membership Meetings, I have been amiss in my duties to you by not sending out a jurisdictional email. For that, I apologize.
CUE SUPPORTS UPTE May 6 STRIKE
Dear CUE Brothers and Sisters,
UPTE, the union that represents technical and professional employees, will be on strike on Wednesday, May 6 to protest unfair labor practices by UC, such as bargaining in bad faith, retaliating against bargaining team members, refusing to provide information vital to bargaining such as wage costing and pension plan data. UPTE has been working without a contract since July 1, 2008.
CUE SUPPORTS UPTE May 6 STRIKE
Dear CUE Brothers and Sisters,
UPTE, the union that represents technical and professional employees, will be on strike on Wednesday, May 6 to protest unfair labor practices by UC, such as bargaining in bad faith, retaliating against bargaining team members, refusing to provide information vital to bargaining such as wage costing and pension plan data. UPTE has been working without a contract since July 1, 2008.
CUE is currently bargaining for your new contract, and UC uses the same tactics with us as it does with UPTE, stall, Stall, STALL. It’s time to take action to show UC that failure to bargain in good faith will no longer be tolerated.
What can you do?
The most important thing you can do to support UPTE is to come join a picket line! Since our contract has expired we are in the period of Status Quo. Our No-Strike article is no longer in effect and employees in the Clerical & Allied Services unit have the right to honor the picket lines and march with our brothers and sisters in UPTE. CUE Local 3 has authorized $50 in sympathy strike pay for any member who spends four hours on the picket line next week. Be sure to wear your CUE t-shirt, and sign in with CUE. (If you need T-Shirt we will have some available at the Sproul Hall picket line.
If you are unable to join us for the day, even joining before work, after work or on your lunch hour and breaks will help. Strength in numbers is the only way that UC will deal fairly with us!!
Gains by other unions, such as AFSCME and UPTE, strengthen us all. Please join CUE members on the UPTE picket line on May 6.
Questions? Email berkeleycue@cueunion.org or call 841-0700.
CUE BARGAINING AND WAGES – Draft report
Last week (April 19-21, 2009) during bargaining CUE and UC exchanged wage proposals. CUE is working to get the most reasonable increase considering the economic times and the documented
fact that members of CUE are receiving (and have been receiving for over 10 years) wages that are significantly below the market.
The CUE proposal structures across the board increases for all CX employees of:
- 3.5% effective October 1, 2008;
- 4% effective July 1, 2009;
- 4% effective July 1, 2010;
- 4% effective July 1, 2011
- In each year the proposal also structures:
Step and percentage equity increases (half-step and 2% and full step and .5%) between the urban and lower paid rural designated campuses; and longevity step placement consistent with what has been already implemented by UC for other represented employees and CUE represented employees at the San Francisco medical center. See the longevity tables at this link:
http://sfcue.org/guidelines.php
CUE calls for SYMPATHY STRIKE with UPTE - Wed., May 6
For more info on the strike please to the UPTE website
UPTE is on strike for unfair labor practices – e.g. UC did not present any proposals for over 10 months and cancelled bargaining sessions.
CUE also has been in bargaining for a very long time with little resolution offered by UC. Because we don’t have a contract, we can legally strike in solidarity with UPTE – and in effect stand up for ourselves!
UPTE is in allegiance with CUE and shares many of our demands which include:
- Call on the UC negotiators to bargain fair and reasonable wage increases. This would be the only fair and consistent action to take following raises for management, faculty and 10,000 other UC workers this year.
- A campus wide moratorium on layoffs that would avoid staff and their families having to face long term unemployment in a devastated economy. The UC community should pull together in these tough times.
- A significant cut in executive pay to ensure that the financial sacrifices are being made by those in the best position to make them. Stanford University has taken the lead on this. management should show the same moral leadership in this situation.
- Develop a campus wide program that is based on shared sacrifice to protect UC staff from unemployment. A stronger START Program that is universally applied and credited to departments.
CUE Local 3, 2510 Channing Way, Suite 1, Berkeley, CA 94704
510-841-0700
http://www.berkeleycue.org/
General Membership Meeting
CUE Local #3 has general membership meetings at noon every third Thursday of the month, with lunch provided. Contact the CUE Local #3 office for this month's location on the central campus of UC Berkeley.
UC Service Workers Examine Settlement Offer
Berkeley Daily Planet
Reader Commentaries:
UC Service Workers Examine Settlement Offer
By Hank Chapot (gardener at UC Berkeley)
Wednesday February 11, 2009
As you read this, low-wage employees at all 10 University of California campuses represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) are voting on a new contract, one close to that given union-represented patient-care workers a few months ago.
When the previous contract expired a year and a half ago and negotiations stalled, members intensified their fight; they picketed, organized a boycott by celebrities, politicians and commencement speakers, intensified lobbying, sponsored legislation, struck for five days in July 2008, began planning a longer strike for spring 2009, dogged the Regents and even sat in at head Regent Richard Blum’s office, where 20 workers and student supporters were arrested in January.read the full article
