| Coalition of University Employees (CUE) | 2855 Telegraph Ave., Suite #302, Berkeley, CA 94705 Contact CUE (510) 845-2221 (phone), (510) 845-7444 (FAX) |
On October 6 some of the members of the CUE bargaining team met with members of the Santa Cruz jurisdiction to answer questions about the current negotiations and especially negotiations surrounding the salary reduction/furlough plan. Those team members who attended this meeting felt it was a productive meeting and a good opportunity to explain the team's decision not to accept the salary reduction/furlough plan as offered by the University.
The CUE and UC Bargaining Teams came together at UC Santa Cruz on October 7 and 8.
Based on the University's continued interest, the CUE team developed additional alternative proposals to the salary reduction/furlough plan and submitted one of the proposals to UC. Additionally, the CUE team developed and submitted a proposal to bargain the effects of the temporary layoffs and curtailment schedule the University has announced. The third proposal CUE submitted addressed the swine flu vaccination policy the University has proposed at medical centers throughout the UC system.
The salary reduction/furlough plan alternative CUE presented is a very comprehensive proposal. A few of the items that CUE proposed:
The CUE team believes our alternative proposal will generate the nearly $13 million in savings the University wants and represents a better option to meet the needs of the employees of the CUE jurisdiction. In the August 4, 2009, letter from Lynn Boland (Executive Director of Human Resources at UCOP) Ms. Boland indicated UC is willing to accept alternative proposals to the salary reduction/furlough plan voted by the Regents, as long as it achieved the $13 million savings from clerical salaries. CUE is working diligently to fulfill our legal obligation to negotiate with the University to find an alternate proposal that will give us guarantees and protections. We are waiting for a response from UC.
UC presented the CUE team with a new University benefits proposal. Features of the University proposal includes redirecting the employee DCP contribution to the UCRP fund (for CX employees the amount is 2% of gross monthly salary minus $19) beginning April 2010. Also, the University would have the ability to increase medical premiums and auxiliary fees during the life of the contract (e.g. parking and transportation fees), along with zero % salary increases for 2008/2009, 2009/2010, and an reopener salary negotiations for increases in 2011, if the state has the money. Therefore, the salary reduction could be in excess of 8--13%.
CUE is making every effort to disseminate accurate information to the jurisdiction; unfortunately, the same has not been true of the University. We have in fact filed a charge with the PERB which covers some of the misinformation the University has disseminated and which has caused a great deal of confusion and fear among CUE workers. The University is using a portion of their eight-million-dollar media campaign to frighten and scare employees with temporary layoffs to put pressure on the unions (CUE, UPTE, and AFSCME) to accept the salary reduction/furlough plan. Don't let them succeed this is a form of union busting.
There were CUE employees and staff in attendance as observers on both days of the bargaining sessions; and on October 7, a delegation of AFSCME employees attended to deliver a message of their concerns to the UC team.
The next bargaining session will be October 21 and 22 in San Francisco at the Mission Bay location. We encourage employees who are able to attend the sessions to join us as observers.
CUE Bargaining Team:
Alexis Talpash-Riverside