"We are very pleased to have reached what we believe is a fair agreement, and one that rewards our service workers for their continued hard work and dedication to the university," said Shelley Nielsen, UC's chief negotiator for the contract. "The university worked very hard throughout the process to bring the negotiations to a successful conclusion, and ultimately compromises by both sides enabled us to reach an agreement."
Once ratified by the union, the agreement will be effective from the date of ratification through Jan. 31, 2013, and full contract details will be available at http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/employees/policies_employee_labor_relations/labor_relations.html
Highlights of the tentative agreement include:
Wages: Over $64 million in total wage increases over the life of the contract, including 3 percent across-the-board wage increases in each year of the contract with an additional 1 percent across-the-board increase effective in July 2009, and increases in minimum hourly rates from $10.28 to $14.00 by the end of the contract. It is estimated that the average hourly pay of a UC service employee will increase from $14.35 to $18.39 over the life of the contract.
Benefits: The same excellent health and retirement benefits as other UC employees, at the same cost, with UC paying the vast majority of the benefits costs. Due to a special one-time subsidy UC is employing for its 2009 health benefits, UC employees including service employees have already seen lower premium increases than they otherwise would, with some employees seeing decreases in their net monthly medical insurance premiums (details at http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/news/health/0810_health_rates.html).
Retirement plan contributions: When contributions to the UC Retirement Plan resume, as with other employees, service employees will have their current contributions to the UC Defined Contribution Plan redirected to UCRP for the first year. As a result, UC employees will experience no decrease in their net take-home pay due to the initial reinstatement of UCRP contributions.
For more information about these negotiations, go to:
http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/employees/policies_employee_labor_relations/collective_bargaining_units/service_sx/bargaining_update.html
For more news and information about the University of California, please visit: www.universityofcalifornia.edu