SUMMARY
- CUE proposed bringing in a professional mediator to assist with
negotiations; UC agreed
- Background checks -- a threat to job security
- LBNL reaches a tentative wage agreement!
- Veteran's Day - a paid holiday for clericals
CUE and UC bargained for four days: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and
Monday October 6-9, 2000. In this session, we reached agreement on
almost all issues. However, those that remain are the most
important: employee wages and background checks.
The University's background checks proposal was revealed to be
nothing less than a threat to the job security for all current
employees. The University demands the right to impose background
checks on all clerical employees if UC determines the position to be
critical and to lay off any employee who fails to pass a background
check (which may include a check of your credit rating) regardless of
length of service or quality of performance.
On wages, the University refused CUE's comprehensive compromise
proposal, even though UC's Chief Negotiator, Sharon Hayden, had
indicated her expectation that it would be accepted the last time we
met. Hayden blamed the Council of Chancellors for rejecting CUE's
offer, claiming that the Chancellors thought it would cost too much.
UC submitted a new proposal which would deny merit step increases
earned by clericals a year ago. CUE will not agree to give up the
merits we earned last year. Although management said they have
nowhere to go, CUE proposed that the two sides bring in a
professional mediator in order to reach a successful close to this
negotiation. After some consideration, UC agreed to mediation.
It is ironic that Wages and Background Checks are the two remaining
issues. UC has taken advantage of clericals with pay raises so small
that they failed to keep up with the rising cost of living, much less
provided market equity. Now, UC demands background checks that would
allow management to lay off clerical employees for poor credit
ratings that UC may be directly responsible for creating.
LBNL
(Note to non-Lab employees: because of LBNL's unique and
discriminatory pay structure, this may not mean much to you.)
At the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, CUE and Lab management reached
a successful settlement that met CUE's goals. The LBNL wage package
includes:
Merit pool and range movement for salaries of 4% for FY99 (October 1,
1999) and 5% for FY00 (October 1, 2000).
For each of these years there is a guaranteed minimum increase based
on performance evaluation (P2R) overall rating.
FY99: M - 3.0%, E - 3.5%, O - 4.0%
FY00: M - 4.0%, E - 4.5%, O - 5.0%
There is an 'equity adjustment' based on years in classification.
For employees here 5 to 9 years "in class" and 10+ years "in class"
whose merit increase does not put them at the midpoint or the 75% of
the 3rd quartile respectively; they will be moved to that level.
Red-circled employees will receive a non-base building lump-sum
payment of 4% and 5% for each of the fiscal years. The excellent
settlement proves that CUE can reach agreement when management wants
to move, and clerical demonstrations across the state contributed to
the impetus for that movement. Now we need to put the same pressure
behind the remaining issues.
Veteran's Day
We've secured an agreement from UC that clericals will be getting the
Veteran's Day holiday even if the clerical contract is not settled.
Hayden said that she would be putting out the word to local managers
and would put
the information up on UC's web page.
CUE and UC are discussing future dates with a mediator. Stay tuned.
CUE's Bargaining Team:
- Christine Benoit (Riverside)
- Stephane Berlaud (San Francisco)
- Debbie Ceder (Santa Barbara)
- Mark Covington (Lawrence Berkeley National Lab)
- Jennifer Goodheart (Santa Cruz)
- LeAnn Herigstad (Davis)
- Alyce Herrera (Lawrence Berkeley National Lab)
- Lyn Kelly (Los Angeles)
- Robin Luczak (San Diego)
- Joanne Murray (Santa Barbara)
- Cynthia Norman (Irvine)
- Margy Wilkinson (Berkeley)
- Mark Blum (Chief Negotiator)
