A three-year tentative contract agreement between the University
of California and the American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees Union was reached on Wednesday after nine
months of negotiating and a week after AFSCME held a one-day
strike.
“It’s an important victory for service workers and
thousands of their allies, including students, community leaders
and faculty who supported during the strike,” said Craig
Merrilees, director of AFSCME Local 3299.
The contract includes conditional wage increases ““ a 3
percent wage increase for all union members effective in October
and a 3 percent increase in 2006-2007, as well as a 4 percent
increase in 2007-2008, according to a UC press release.
Wage increases will be “consistent with the
university’s budget compact with the governor and subject to
final state funding appropriations in each year,” said Noel
Van Nyhuis, a spokesman for the UC Office of the President.
Other wage increases were in the tentative contract that are not
conditional on California’s budget compact with the governor,
said Faith Raider, a spokeswoman for AFSCME.
The tentative contract allows for a $250 retroactive lump sum to
be paid out to each worker as soon as the contract is signed,
Raider said.
The tentative agreement also allows workers to eat for free in
the dining halls, Raider said. Food service workers are currently
required to eat in cafeterias, and have money taken out of their
paychecks for food costs.
The tentative contract also gives night workers a premium,
Raider said.
Because the wage increases are not guaranteed yet and are
contingent on the passage of the governor’s proposed budget
based on the compact, AFSCME members reserve the right to re-open
the bargaining process if promises of wage increases are not
upheld, and to strike again if necessary, Raider said.
The tentative contract will not be signed until AFSCME members
vote on the agreement, which will take place at UC campuses over
the next few weeks.
AFSCME members held a one-day strike on April 14 at the nine UC
campuses and five medical centers to protest contract negotiations
that have been occurring since July 2004.
The UC has said the strike did not effect the contract
negotiations.
“Our wage proposals are consistent with the
(governor’s) contract and dependent with state funding. The
strike didn’t change that,” Van Nyhuis said.
AFSCME is still looking to include greater opportunities for
promotion in their contract.
“We’re still struggling with the university over …
creating more upward mobility and promotional opportunities for
service workers. Too many feel like they’re stuck in dead-end
jobs,” Merrilees said.
The university expects the contract to be agreed upon, Van
Nyhuis said.