For the past few months of bargaining, UC management has been stalling, not only by failing to provide meaningful responses to our proposals, but also failing to fulfill their legal obligation to provide SSAPs with crucial information we requested as early as May 2025. In order to fulfill their duty to bargain in good faith, management is required to provide the union with information about our wages and working conditions; failure to do so is an unfair labor practice (ULP). How can the bargaining team have a serious conversation with management about wages if we do not even have shared knowledge about, for instance, the average salary of a bargaining unit member?
Because of this, on December 10th, SSAPs filed our first unfair practice charge against the University of California. RPSPs have requested much of the same crucial information from UC and an RPSP-specific charge will soon follow if UC does not meet its obligations to provide the information in a timely fashion.
The last bargaining dates of this calendar year, a four-day marathon session, begins tomorrow – Tuesday, December 16th to Friday, December 19th – at the Magnes Collection in Berkeley. It’s time to tell UC to start bargaining in good faith and negotiate a fair contract! As always, all RPSPs and SSAPs are encouraged to attend open bargaining (RSVP here). If you need support connecting with coworkers to attend bargaining, please reach out to a Bargaining Team member at your campus.
Now is the time to take action and participate in the collective bargaining process. It’s going to take each of us doing our part to win the compensation and contract we deserve. Here’s what you can do between now and the 16th:
- Sign up for a short “CAT” (Contract Action Team) training to learn how to stay up-to-date, talk to your coworkers, and participate in the bargaining process
- Take the Retirement and Healthcare Benefits Survey to share your priorities and help inform decision-making in our bargaining over benefits
- To show broad support for the California research bond measure, lead the fight to defend higher education, and get the UC to move on the key protections we need at the bargaining table, thousands of UC-UAW staff are signing onto this public letter of support. Sign the shared bond here: act.uaw.org/support-ca-science-bond
