AFSCME 3299 CALLS STRIKE VOTE, FEBRUARY 11-13
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 22, 2014
CONTACT: Todd Stenhouse, (916) 397-1131, [email protected]
Despite Additional Concessions from union, UC Refuses to Grant AFSCME Safe Staffing Standards and Fair Wages they have Given to other UC Workers
Oakland: After well over a year of bargaining, AFSCME 3299, the University of California’s largest union, has called for a Strike Vote amongst its 8,300 Service Unit members and a Sympathy Strike Vote amongst its 13,000 Patient Care Technical Unit members on February 11-13.
Watch the video here: www.afscme3299.org/endthedoublestandard
“For more than a year, our members offered good faith compromises in an effort to lift full time workers out of poverty, arrest the safety problems that are putting students and patients at risk, and address UCOP’s stated priority of pension reform” said AFSCME 3299 President Kathryn Lybarger. “UC’s response has morphed from willful ignorance of our concerns and outright intimidation of our members to insisting on a double standard that relegates AFSCME represented employees to second class status within the university.”
The strike vote comes more than two months after UC agreed to restart bargaining, which had previously broken down after former UC President Mark Yudof unilaterally imposed contract terms that included pay cuts on AFSCME 3299 members in September.1
Of the roughly forty (40) unsettled contract articles at the outset of negotiations, AFSCME 3299 has now conceded to UC’s position on more than thirty (30). This includes an agreement on UC’s stated priority of pension reform, which will require substantially higher employee contributions for AFSCME 3299 members.
The biggest of the remaining points of disagreement include staffing and wages.
Throughout negotiations, AFSCME 3299’s top priority has been safe staffing standards which are needed to address the huge spike in workplace injuries amongst UC Service Workers2
and the growing numbers of fines against UC hospitals for patient safety deficiencies.3
While UC has already granted safe staffing standards to its nurses4
, it is refusing to make similar accommodations for the hospital and campus workers represented by AFSCME 3299.
“It takes a whole team to take care of the patient,” said Shirley Toy, RN, and Registered Nurse at UC Davis Medical Center. “While the nurses were able to win a great contract, we recognize that AFSCME Service and Patient Care workers are an important part of the team, and they deserve that same fair contract too.”
On wages, though AFSCME represents the lowest paid workers at UC–99% of whom are income eligible for some form of public assistance—UC continues to propose that AFSCME workers accept second class treatment. Specifically, it has offered AFSCME represented workers less than half the wage increase it recently granted nurses, and substantially less than UC has already granted its highest paid executives, other non-represented employees, University Professional Technical Employees (UPTE), Police Officers (FUPOA), Clerical Workers (Teamsters), and Lecturers and Librarians (AFT).5
“If there’s one thing our membership has shown over the past year, it’s our willingness to compromise in an effort to reach agreement with UC,” Lybarger added. “That said, we cannot in good conscience compromise on the safety of our members and the people they serve, nor can we accept second class treatment when it comes to issues like wages and benefits. It is sadly ironic that at a time when her old boss, President Obama, is working to address the problem of inequity across America, Janet Napolitano seems to be working just as hard to perpetuate it at the University of California.”
1. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-uc-labor-20130925,0,2369558.story#axzz2qydkfFr0
http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/ucd/uc-imposes-new-contract-on-service-workers/
2. U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Health & Safety Administration, Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, OSHA ‘s Form 300s for years 2009, 2010, 2011 & 2012.
3. California Department of Public Health, Statement of Deficiencies for UC Medical Centers, 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012
4. The CNA contract with UC contains provisions that provide for: (1) third party dispute resolution of staffing/ratio issues; (2) conversion rights for per diems who work 1000 hours in a 12 month period; and (3) fifteen minutes pay for missed breaks. With regards to outsourcing, UC has never threatened to outsource RN jobs.
5. RNs will receive a 4% increase for each of the next four years. http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/employees/policies_employee_labor_relations/collective_bargaining_units/nurses_nurse/update_1311.html; UC Police Officers will receive a 3% increase for each of the next four years.
http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/employees/policies_employee_labor_relations/collective_bargaining_units/police_fupoa/update-1310.html; UPTE Research and Technical Employees will receive a 4% increase this year, and a 3% increase in each of the following three years. UPTE Medical Center employees will receive a 5% increase this year, and a 2% increase in each of the following three years. http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/employees/policies_employee_labor_relations/news_events/1312-upte-agreement.html; Librarians and Lecturers will receive a 3.5% increase this year. http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/employees/policies_employee_labor_relations/collective_bargaining_units/nonsenateinstructional_nsi/1312_update.html
