2004-2005: Bargaining Report #9: August 18, 2005
UC Petitions PERB
On August 4, 2005, UC requested that PERB (the Public
Employment Relations Board) determine that the CUE/UC
negotiations are at impasse and appoint a mediator in
the current contract negotiations. CUE vigorously
opposed UC's request to PERB. At the time of the
scheduled August 18th bargaining session, the
decision from PERB had not been rendered.
NEXT STEP: MEDIATION
On August 22, 2005, CUE's attorney, Ari Krantz, was
informed by Jerilyn Gelt, PERB attorney, that she had
decided to send the parties to mediation. The case
was referred to the State Conciliation and Mediation
Services for the assignment of a mediator. The
mediator will either help the parties to agree on a
deal, or determine that they are indeed at impasse.
On Friday, August 26, Peter Chester contacted the CUE
negotiator to schedule one final bargaining session
prior to mediation. Is UC trying to have it both
ways? UC Labor Relations continues to make a mockery
of the collective bargaining process with this
latest sham played upon PERB.
BARGAINING TOPICS DISCUSSED ON AUGUST 18
Most of the discussions on August 18th revolved
around wages and health benefits. The session
covered extensive review of the July 12th wage
proposal submitted by UC and CUE's July 22nd counter
to that wage proposal. (See the CUE web site to
review the two proposals.)
CUE's team vigorously stated opposition to the
regressive nature of the UC July 12th wage proposal.
UC negotiator Peter Chester identified what he termed
"sticking points" with the CUE July 22nd proposal:
- CUE's wage proposal is not conditioned on the state allocation
- July 1st vs. October 1st implementation for the 3% across the board salary increase
- Implementation of ___Asst. IV position statewide
- $750 signing bonus
- 2 bonus day vacation accrual
- Accounting mechanism to fund steps and market equity from salary and vacancy savings
- Step increase (not merit based and paid for out of "salary savings")
- 4 year agreement (2005-2008)
- IAP, Incentive Award Program, money (.5%) put into the base salary for all employees
WHEN THEY SAY 3.5%, THEY DONT REALLY MEAN 3.5%
During the course of the discussions, UC negotiator
Chester contradicted the published promises of
President Dynes in his special newsletter
publication, which was released when the state budget
was signed on July 11, 2005. He also contradicted
previous statements made by Dynes, which indicated
that the compact allocation represented the floor,
not the ceiling, for salary increases. (See the
section on
Faculty and Staff compensation at
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/newsletter/issue19.html.)
Unashamedly, Chester stated that the .5% previously
represented as additional money to fund a market
equity increase is in fact the money that the
university saves by implementing the 3% raise from
the compact on October 1, 2005, rather than July 1,
2005. An October 1 implementation date saves nearly
$3.5 million. In prior sessions and proposals UC
claimed to be putting an extra .5% for market equity
and that the university
was offering 3.5%.
This admission exemplifies the continuation of the
university's practice of deception (the age-old con
game of bait and switch) and unfair treatment of
represented employees, CUE-represented employees in
particular. In fact, the university is proposing to
withhold the $3.5 million from the entire clerical
unit and three months later give it back to the
library assistants in the form of an equity increase,
thus pitting the economic gain of one group of
employees against the whole unit.
WHAT'S UP DOC?
Mark Esteban of the Office of the President gave a
brief presentation covering possible increases in
medical premiums. He explained that the university is
still in negotiations with insurance providers,
therefore he was not at liberty to disclose any
detailed information. The university has said in
another meeting with the coalition of unions that
expected increases in premiums would be approximately
7-9%.
The bargaining session concluded without resolution
of the sticking points and future dates were not set.
We will report on new developments in the next
bargaining report and at upcoming membership
meetings.
CUE Bargaining Team:
Norine Shima, UC Berkeley
Mary Jo Kelly, UC Davis*
Brigitte Moon, UC Davis alternate*
Cynthia Norman, UC Irvine*
Helane Carpenter, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab*
Bert Thomas, UC Los Angeles
Lyn Kelly, UC Los Angeles alternate
Maria LaBarrie, UC Riverside (co-bargainer)*
Stacey Fullwiler, UC Riverside (co-bargainer)
Nancy Kabzenell, UC San Diego*
Mary G. Higgins, UC San Francisco
Alice Guillory, UC San Francisco alternate*
Melinda Gandara, UC Santa Barbara
Kevin Parks, UC Santa Cruz
Shann Ritchie, UC Santa Cruz alternate*
Amatullah Alaji, UC Berkeley, Chief Negotiator
*not in attendance at the sessions
