A planned five-day labor strike planned for next week at University of California medical centers across the state appears to be put on hold, as service workers and the health system have reached a tentative agreement, it was announced Feb. 27.
Members of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3299 must ratify the agreement. Once formally approved, the five-day labor strike – planned for March 3 through 7 – would officially be canceled.
The tentative four-year agreement would cover University of California health system’s 8,300 service workers, including those at Ronald Reagan-UCLA Medical Center in Westwood and UCLA-Santa Monica Medical Center in Santa Monica.
“It is good to have this bargaining wrapped up with a deal on its way to our valued service employees,” University of California vice president of human resources Dwaine B. Duckett stated. “We worked hard to bridge gaps on the issues. Ultimately both sides chose compromise over conflict.”
According to an email sent to the press by a representative of AFSCME Local 3299, terms of the deal includes a 13.5 percent wage increase – spread out over four years – for all service workers. Some service workers would be eligible for three two-percent wage increases, meaning the total bump in pay for those employees would be 19.5 percent over four years.
Other terms of the deal included affordable healthcare benefits for current employees and retirees as well as job security protections.
“After more than a year of good faith bargaining, we have finally reached a historic agreement with UC that will pull thousands of its full-time employees out of poverty and begin to rectify staffing practices that needlessly put our members and the people they serve at risk,” University of California Service Worker and AFSCME 3299 president Kathryn Lybarger stated. “While this proposed settlement includes compromise on both sides, it honors the contributions that career service workers make to this institution, as well as U.C.’s responsibility to build ladders to the middle class. Our members are deeply grateful to the thousands of students, faculty, colleagues, elected officials, and everyday taxpayers who have stood with us, and stood for the principles of fairness and dignity that bind every member of the U.C. community.”
According to AFSCME Local 3299, the four-year agreement only covers University of California service workers. The 13,000 patient care technical workers at the statewide health system who are represented by the labor union are still bargaining with University of California. Both sides are expected to return to the bargaining table Feb. 28.
“The Patient Care Unit has been engaged in good faith bargaining for more than 20 months—even longer than Service Workers—and like Service workers, has already given U.C. 80 percent of what it wants, including the university’s top priority of pension reform,” Lybarger added.
When plans for a five-day labor strike were announced Feb. 20, the AFSCME claimed the University of California. service workers it represents receive the lowest pay. The labor union estimated 99 percent of service workers at University of California medical and research centers “are income eligible for some form of public assistance, with some full time workers forced to live in their cars.”
AFSCME represents about 22,000 patient care and service employees. About 3,800 of those employees work for the UCLA Health System.
In a similar system-wide labor strike on Nov. 20, 2013, it was estimated the one-day walk out would cost the UCLA Health System $2.5 million, including lost revenue and compensation for replacement workers.
A two-day labor strike from May 21 to May 22 last year might have cost the UCLA system as much as $5 million in lost revenue and expenses, officials then estimated. The University of California claims the May 2013 and November 2013 labor strikes cost the entire health system more than $30 million to maintain critical patient care services.
According to University of California Health, service workers represented by AFSCME currently earn, on average, an annual salary of $37,000 plus benefits.
Service workers include food service, gardeners, janitors, and maintenance.
