CUE BARGAINING UPDATE & A NOTE ON CUE'S EMAIL SERVICE
BARGAINING SUMMARY: UC has still not accepted CUE's proposal to increase the pace of bargaining, and give clerical employees the same conditions as other UC employees. But UC may be willing to reconsider their position and a special bargaining session is set for Nov. 3-5, 1999. Your support is critical. Please see end of message for how you can help.
CUE and UC bargainers met October 13-15, 1999 at UCLA. We continued our efforts (begun in September) to get UC's negotiators to agree to CUE's proposal for fast-track bargaining and a settlement of a fair contract for UC clerical employees. Last month, University negotiators had responded positively to our proposal. At that time CUE explained our proposal to accept the best employment practices already adopted by UC in its agreements with other employee unions for most contract articles. However, at this session, it became clear that University negotiators wanted CUE to accept conditions that are worse, in many areas, than those applied to other UC employees.
When it became clear on the second day of bargaining that UC negotiators were abandoning their previously expressed commitment to accelerated bargaining, the CUE team suspended negotiations. However, UC asked the CUE team to continue discussion of the proposal on the third day, and CUE agreed. At that session, University negotiators expressed sufficient willingness to reconsider their position and a special bargaining session was added to be held in Oakland on November 3-5, 1999.
CUE Bargains Agreement of UCLA Medical Center Issues
Also at this bargaining session, the CUE bargaining team successfully negotiated a special agreement resolving several ongoing issues at the UCLA Medical Center (and the more recently acquired Santa Monica Hospital). In a late-night bargaining session that ran from 7:00 p.m. on October 13 to 2:35 a.m. the next morning, CUE and UC were able
to hammer out an agreement that allows UCLA to put into place a planned reorganization. The agreement also secures compensation for CUE-represented employees who would have been adversely affected by the reorganization. Most significantly, the employees at Santa Monica Hospital, who came into the UC system five years ago on a non-step, merit-only pay plan, were brought onto the same step-based pay structure as other UC clericals. The agreement also insures retroactive reclassifications and pay increases for these employees, in addition to the retroactive pay increases negotiated by CUE in its interim agreement for 1998-99.
This agreement demonstrates that when University representatives sincerely want to negotiate a fair agreement, UC and CUE can bargain a settlement that benefits both sides, and do it quickly.
Meanwhile CUE asks UC employees to show support for our demand for equity and for accelerated bargaining. Here's what you and your coworkers can do:
1) Wear a label supporting CUE's bargaining proposal (contact us at
clericals@igc.org;
2) Put up a sign on your work station with the message "I support CUE's fast-track bargaining, and equity for UC clericals", and
3) send your thoughts about clerical contract bargaining to UC President Richard Atkinson, at
Richard.Atkinson@ucop.edu
CUE is changing email carrier, and as a result of these changes, you may have received email recently from "TOPICA," a carrier which we used briefly. We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion that may have come your way as a result, and we hope that our email will work smoothly in the future. Communicating with our co-workers, clerical employees on all the UC campuses, and hearing back from UC clericals, is extremely important to us.
If you know any clericals who are not receiving our emails and who would like to receive them, just let us know to add them to our lists by giving us their real name and email address.
Thank you.
CUE's Bargaining Team:
- Kris Amaral (San Francisco)
- Christine Benoit (Riverside)
- Debbie Ceder (Santa Barbara)
- Jennifer Goodheart (Santa Cruz)
- Lyn Kelly (Los Angeles)
- Robin Luczak (San Diego)
- Linda Moser (Davis)
- Joanne Murray (Santa Barbara)
- Cynthia Norman (Irvine)
- John Randolph (Lawrence Berkeley National Lab)
- Margy Wilkinson (Berkeley)
- Mark Blum (Chief Negotiator)
