UC medical workers make complaint against administrators over strike
The Public Employment Relations Board issued an unfair labor practice complaint against University of California medical administrators Tuesday, tied to a May strike called by patient care workers
Alex E. Tavlian
Staff Writer-Sacramento Business Journal
The Public Employment Relations Board issued an unfair labor practice complaint against University of California medical administrators Tuesday.
The complaint stems from the strike called by the 13,000 UC Patient Care Technical Workers in May. The workers, represented by American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, alleged that administrators threatened a number of employees with disciplinary action for using their collective bargaining rights and imposed cuts on the Patient Care Technical unit after refusing the union’s offers of compromise, union spokesman Todd Stenhouse said.
“The UC told us to kick rocks,” he said about the university’s rejection of compromise offers.
“The university takes these AFSCME allegations very seriously and strongly disagrees with the union’s claim that we threatened or intimidated employees during the strike,” UC spokeswoman Dianne Klein said. “For more than a year, the UC bargained in good faith with AFSCME and presented fair, financially sustainable proposals, particularly on pension reform. The union rejected these.”
“This (complaint) is about whether the University of California actually honors collective bargaining,” Stenhouse said.
The next step in the process is an informal settlement conference between the two parties.
[Source]: Sacramento Business Journal
