The University of California is preparing for a major strike Thursday that will disrupt services across all campuses, hospitals and medical centers as more than 40,000 workers — patient transport workers, nursing assistants, custodians, campus dining hall workers — prepare to walk out if a deal is not reached.
The threatened strike could prevent or delay many medical appointments, although hospitals and medical offices will remain open, and it will limit on-premise dining operations. UC campuses and hospitals are creating contingency plans and communicating with patients, students, faculty and staff about potential disruptions.
Wednesday afternoon, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 remained locked in contract negotiations and did not reach an agreement with UC. The union is set to begin an open strike, which its leaders say will not end until demands are met for better wages, lower health care costs and to begin negotiations with UC about how the university can help reduce rising housing costs.
UC said it has offered to raise wages, give contract ratification bonuses and limit some health care premium increases. When the union announced the strike nearly a month ago, a UC spokesperson said the university was “disappointed” by the decision “despite significant progress at the bargaining table.”
The union said picket lines and rallies will begin at 8 a.m. Thursday at every UC campus and medical center, including Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. The threatened strike will conclude more than two years of contract negotiations after several one- and multi-day strikes
What jobs do AFSCME members have?
AFSCME members include custodians, gardeners, dining hall food service workers, transportation workers, and skilled craft workers such as plumbers and electricians. At UC hospitals, union members work as radiology technologists, nurse’s aides and patient transporters in the cafeteria, among other roles.
UCLA Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine were “developing plans to minimize disruptions to campus and clinical operations” and all UCLA Health hospitals and clinics “will remain open and operational,” officials said Monday. Announcement.
The message did not specify whether procedures, surgeries or imaging would be rescheduled, or detail how work would be done, including custodial services.
At UC Santa Cruz, interim campus provost Paul Koch said in a campus statement The strike will have a “noticeable impact” on health services, transportation and food, with dining halls operating under “minimum staffing” and a “reduction in appointments and services” at the Student Health Center.
When the union held a two-day strike in November, many UCLA dining halls closed, some offered only takeout service amid long student lines, and students turned to food trucks for meals.
union demand
The union is demanding higher wages, lower health care costs and the right to bargain over housing assistance. Leaders say some members are sleeping in their cars on the way to work, falling behind on rent or commuting hours because they can’t afford housing near campuses, especially in Los Angeles and the Bay Area.
one in monday update On the bargaining posted on its website, UC said it had offered members a “much sweeter” deal, giving them a pay rise of up to 34% over a three-year contract. The proposal offered a $2,000 ratification bonus and a cap on HMO premium increases, which UC said could save members up to $3,000 each year on health care costs.
“We know employees are looking for certainty, stability and meaningful economic support, and UC is committed to reaching an agreement that puts additional money in employees’ pockets and provides long-term support to address affordability,” Missy Mattella, UC’s associate vice president for systemic labor and employee relations, wrote in a statement. statement.
The union argues that UC is misrepresenting who will get a pay raise and by how much, arguing that the examples are not representative of its membership with an average salary of $62,000. It says rising health care costs will offset any wage gains. It also says the UC has not responded to its requests to begin discussions on how to help members struggling with housing.
AFSCME 3299 spokesman Todd Stenhouse said the pay increase “doesn’t apply to one-third of the members.” Stenhouse said UC’s proposals would leave members behind.
“In real wages, they’re earning 10% less than they were 10 years ago. So you have people who are already earning less,” Stenhouse said, citing inflation in other areas and health care costs.
The walkout has been threatened after the union filed two labor practice complaints with the state Public Employment Relations Board.
One accused UC of refusing to bargain over its housing demands, arguing that workers “shouldn’t have to live out of their cars” while UC “provides its more affluent senior executives and faculty with low-interest mortgages and cash for down payments.”
The second accuses UC of implementing “unilateral changes to the terms and conditions of employment,” including the July action of automatically giving employees a raise to $25 an hour or a 5% pay raise — whichever is greater — after the university issued its “last, best and final offer.”
The union said the rollout was done in a “haphazard” manner, leaving hundreds of people either not receiving pay increases or having to wait for months, and alleged that UC also imposed new health care rates without bargaining.
The Labor Board has not determined whether UC engaged in wrongdoing.
‘Keep going…the strike is a sacrifice’
Union members said that the strike is a last resort.
“I deserve long-term stability. Not short-term tricks and moves,” Rosalba Montoya, a medical assistant at UCLA, said in a recent statement posted on the union’s social media. “Going on an open strike is a sacrifice, but it will pay off in the end.”
At a recent UC Board of Regents meeting at UCLA, another AFSCME member told the board: “You guys keep tearing us to pieces. I don’t have a home of my own. I’m one emergency away from being on the streets and yet you tell us there’s no money, no solutions, no real effort to address the housing crisis or provide livable wages.”
The union has also received messages of support from several elected officials.
US Senator Adam SchiffIn a video this month on AFSCME 3299’s X account, UC was urged to “bargain in good faith.”
In another social media video addressed to union members, Assemblymember Cecilia Aguirre-Curry He said he hoped the UC would reach an agreement that “respects the work you do and the patients you care for every day.”
