Bargaining Update Archive

April 2008 —

UC and AFSCME Bargaining Update - April 4, 2008

April 4, 2008:  UC and AFSCME are participating in the fact-finding process that began last month, after the state-appointed mediator certified the negotiations to fact-finding.  The parties have had three fact-finding sessions to date; the next session is scheduled for April 9th.                                            

UC and AFSCME have agreed to keep the fact-finding process confidential; however, we are able to provide you with more information regarding proposals that UC presented to the union prior to fact-finding.

·         Salary: As we’ve mentioned before, UC has offered AFSCME wage increases of 3.5-15% depending on location and title, designed to ensure employees at each location earn competitive wages as compared to other California hospitals.  Across the system this amounts to approximately $16 million in proposed wage increases for PCT employees.

·         Healthcare and Retirement Benefits: The University offered AFSCME the same high-quality health care and retirement benefits as other UC employees at the same affordable cost.  This includes a choice between an assortment of HMO, PPO, HRA with PPO and point-of-service medical plans at each location.  We also offered the union the opportunity to provide represented employees with these benefits in year one of the contract, then re-open this issue for bargaining in the remaining years of the contract.

·         Paid Time Off Program:  UC has proposed implementation of a paid time off program, which would provide UC patient care technical employees with increased flexibility and freedom in planning their time off, and to help minimize the staffing and workload impact of unplanned absences.  PTO programs are found in the medical industry nationwide, and are known to be an effective recruitment and retention tool for many medical center employees.  UC’s proposal was based on PTO plans currently in place at some of the medical centers for other employees. In general, PTO plans at UC provide for half of the traditional sick leave accruals (6 days) to be placed into the PTO bank with regular accruals for vacation (dependent upon years of service) while the other half are placed in an extended sick leave bank. 

About fact-finding

In fact-finding, the two groups present their respective positions on the unresolved issues to a three-member fact-finding panel. The panel will then issue recommendations for resolving the differences between the parties. Under HEERA (Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act), the fact-finding process takes thirty days, although the parties can agree to a different timetable depending on availability of the panel members and the number of issues before the panel. At the conclusion of fact-finding, if UC and AFSCME cannot reach agreement using the fact-finder's recommendations, the recommendations become available to the public. 

We will continue to provide updates as frequently as possible throughout the duration of the proceedings.