University of California officials announced today (May 22) an agreement with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union regarding special wage increases for lower-paid employees.

The agreement affects approximately 14,300 UC service and patient care employees earning less than $40,000 per year, and represents a total cost to the university of approximately $8.9 million.

The agreement, effective April 1, 2007, includes $4.3 million in raises for nearly 3,000 UC custodians as follows:

Custodians at UCB, UCSC and UCSB shall receive a $1.25 per hour increase, followed by a $0.50 per hour increase on October 1, 2007, for a total wage increase of $1.75 per hour. Custodians at other UC campuses (except UCSF Medical Center) shall receive a $0.50 per hour base-building wage increase.

In addition to special raises for custodians, other AFSCME-represented employees shall receive the following:

Employees earning less than $30,000: 2% salary increase Employees earning $30,000 - $34,999: 1% salary increase Employees earning $35,000 - $39,999: 0.5% salary increase

“This agreement is good news for UC as it helps move us toward our goal of market-competitive salaries for all our hard-working employees and we want to thank the union for its willingness to find solutions on the remaining issues,” said Howard Pripas, UC executive director for labor relations.  

In recognition of the impact of California’s high cost of living on employees, especially lower-paid staff, UC has recently taken a number of steps to increase wages for its lower-paid employees.  In March, UC reached an agreement with the Coalition of University Employees union regarding special raises for more than 11,800 UC clerical employees (http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/2007/mar23.html), and also provided similar raises to approximately 4,000 non-represented lower-paid employees. The university is proposing similar increases for lower-paid technical and research support professional employees represented by the University Professional and Technical Employees union. Raises for these employees are subject to agreement by their union.

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