Demonstrating its commitment to recognizing the tremendous value of nurses at the University of California system, today UC offered the California Nurses Association union more than two dozen contract proposals, including wage increases of 27% over the proposed five-year contract.
The proposal, if accepted by the union, would include a 7% wage increase in the first year of the contract through a combination of base building increases, step increases and a one-time cash payment. For the remainder of the five-year contract, the roughly 24,000 CNA-represented UC nurses would receive up to 5% each year through a combination of base building increases, step and one-time money annually.
“UC nurses are the backbone of our health system, and this proposal recognizes their invaluable contributions,” said Missy Matella, Associate Vice President for Systemwide Employee and Labor Relations. “We are proud to make such a significant commitment even as the University faces extraordinary financial headwinds. With federal threats to billions in research, health care, and student aid funding, along with ongoing pressures on UC academic health centers that receive no state general fund support, this is a moment of real uncertainty.”
The UC wage proposal of $1.1 billion comes at a time when its academic health centers are navigating significant financial strain, with rising labor costs, supply price inflation and billions in uncompensated care for Medi-Cal, Medicare patients, plus $30 billion in long-term obligations, seismic retrofit mandates and ongoing cost pressures. For instance, labor costs at the academic health centers have risen 22% compared to last year, surpassing the growth in patient care revenue. This strain is intensified by the rising demand for complex care among publicly insured patients, where reimbursement rates frequently fail to cover the true cost of service.
At the same time, UC continues to face an existential federal funding crisis that has already cut key grants and threatened billions in support for research, programs and student aid, putting campuses, patients and communities at risk. Against this backdrop, UC’s continued commitment to offering competitive compensation underscores both the seriousness of bargaining in good faith and the institution’s resolve to support its health care workforce even in the face of unprecedented financial and political pressures.
University of California nurses are among the highest-paid in the nation. “The higher salary levels we see today also reflect the last contract, which included significant consecutive increases, negotiated under a very different financial outlook than the one we face now,” Matella explained. “This proposal balances respect for the vital role nurses play in keeping patients healthy and saving lives, furthering UC’s public service mission.”
The wage proposal was just one that UC offered CNA on Wednesday, at their fourth bargaining session for a successor contract. UC also presented proposals addressing expanded nurse representation, clearer job postings, grievance processes and health benefit subsidies to lower employee costs. The breadth of fair and practical proposals, particularly offered this early in bargaining, reiterates UC’s commitment to good faith bargaining and supporting both patient care and nurses’ workplace needs.
Negotiations began in August, and the contract expires Oct. 31. The next bargaining session is scheduled for Oct. 15.