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UC agrees to delay Benefit Cost Increases until CUE contract signed

October 21, 2005

UC agrees to delay Benefit Cost Increases until CUE contract signed

On Oct. 6, CUE and UPTE went to the Public Employment Relations Board and asked the Board to seek a court injunction which would prevent UC from increasing health care premium and co-pay costs without having negotiated the proposed increases with each union.

Rather than wait for an injunction to be issued against them, on Oct. 10 UC gave in and agreed that it would not implement the new rates on January 1 for units that are still in contract negotiations.

Background:

Even though UC received more money from the state to cover health insurance costs this year, UC is reducing its contribution towards health insurance coverage from 88% to 86%. Their long-term goal is to get all the way down to 68%, which they believe to be the "market" average for corporate contributions toward employee health plans.

On Sept. 30, the unions finally received more precise figures from UC, which indicated a dramatic increase in certain situations: employees with spouses, other adults, or whole families on their plans would see premium increases of up to 50% (e.g. going from $50/month to $75/month).

While our benefit rates are likely to go up at some point depending on the outcome of ongoing contract negotiations (and CUE is pressing UC to sign a reasonable overall contract as quickly as possible), CUE will continue to work with other unions to forestall significant costs increases for UC's underpaid and overworked staff.

CUE Statewide