The folks of UPTE

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Who is in the UNION?
UPTE at LBL currently represents about 475 people in four groups:  Research Associates (RX),   Technical Employees (TX), Health Workers (HX), and many professionals in a variety of classifications who are working to get a a collective bargaining agreement. The first three groups comprise employees who have already signed contracts with the Lab.

The scope of UPTE statewide is the nine University of California (UC) campuses and two national laboratories, covering thousands of employees at UC campuses in all these classifications.

As of October 2004, we have just over 200 members, or about 54 % membership at LBL. Statewide, UPTE also has about 50% membership.  We need to get as close to 100% membership as we approach contract bargaining this year.   Membership power is what will win us the best contracts and higher wages!

What are my rights on the job?

If you are a TX or RX member your union contract spells out what your wages and benefits are, and what UC can and cannot do as your employer.   You can  view your contract on-line at UPTE Contracts.  The TX contract expires in August, 2004 and the RX contract expires in June, 2004.  We are currently preparing to bargain for the next contract. All employees including 99s have certain legal protections. Call the union to discuss any work place concerns.  To learn about getting a job reclassification, go here.

What is the role of UPTE members?

Active members are critical to the success of the union.  Your officers and staff cannot hand you a strong union- only the collective action of the majority of members can do that!

• Volunteer to post union fliers on bulletin boards in your area or distribute literature to your co-workers.
• Attend membership meetings to stay informed: the first Wednesday of every month from 12-1 in the furthest room off Perseverance Hall.
• Help win a better contract and raise: join the LBL bargaining committee.
• Become a union builder!  Ask new employees in your area to join.
• Become a steward:   help  members in your vicinity with work problems.
• Attend a new member meeting to learn more! Call Local 184 for information.

How does UPTE local 184 work?

UPTE is a bottom up union, which relies on members to shape its goals and strategies.  The more people who join and participate, the more representative and democratic the union becomes.  The members elect an executive board.  Anyone who has been a member in good standing for a year, can run for office.  Following are our current officers.

Local 184 Officers:

• President: Doug Owen,  W (510) 486-7682,  DKOwen@lbl.gov, Research Technician
• Vice-President: Larry Jordan
• Treasurer: James Smithwick,  W (510) 486-4137,  JESmithwick@lbl.gov, Systems Administrator
  

Stewards:

• Matt Kotowski, 486-6428, MJKotowski@lbl.gov   Safety Engineer
• Doug Owen, 486-7682, DKOwen@lbl.gov    Research Tech
• Alex Gavidia, 486-5469, Alex_Gavidia@lbl.gov   Drafter
• John Spring, 495-2844, Meltroc@netzero.net   Computer Systems Engineer
• Joe Perez, 325-1787, cyclotron184@msn.com Drafter (Retired)
• Christine Byrne, 486-5507, CEByrne@lbl.gov Administrative Specialist

Techs at LBL have won:

• Union representation in 1994.
• Across-the-board raises! All UPTE contracts have included an across-the-board raise in addition to money available for merit raises.  UPTE contracts has eliminated the less than 1 % raises that some techs received before UPTE.
• Equity increases to bring their pay closer to industry standards.  In 2001 LBL firefighters fought for and won a huge equity increase giving some employees a raise of almost 20% in one year.
• Money that was rightfully theirs that was not being distributed.  UPTE contracts ensured that all money distributed by DOE to LBL for tech wages goes to techs.  Excess money left over after all raises have been distributed, is now redistributed across-the-board.
• 40 hours a year PAID leave annually for training and development

• Union representation in 1997.
• At LBL UPTE RAs negotiated raises that reversed a long standing trend of RA salary erosion.  In the six years preceding the first UPTE contract RAs received no raises across the board and most RA salaries were migrating to the lower end of the range.  Over the next four years UPTE won across the board raises every year of 3 to 3.8 %!  This money was in addition simultaneous to merit pool increases of 4 to 3.8 %.
• These wage increases addressed disparities between actual wages and the Lab's published wage ranges.
• UPTE negotiated hourly and salaried positions with shift differential within the Research Associate series for the Lab's work on sequencing the human genome. Previously these RAs had not been compensated for the extreme working conditions including overtime and around the clock hours.
• UPTE negotiated a mandatory review of Research Associates with more than two years in the title for reclassification to Senior Research Associate.

Advocating for all UPTE Members:

• Every year UPTE local 184 advocates for LBL employees and helps guide them through unfair evaluations and formal disciplinary actions.  In the past year alone we have won good settlements in two cases of wrongful termination.
• This last year, UPTE defended and won a gender discrimination grievance for six women in the Financial Services department.
• We are the only organization that is willing to take on top lab management and speak out about the unfair and arbitrary actions of management for UPTE employees.
• UPTE has represented administrative professionals at the lab, but without a union contract we have less leverage and may not have the resources to continue to take on these cases if we don't win a union contract.

On the political Front:

• UPTE has reached out to federal, state, and local legislators generating pressure on the lab to settle good contracts.  We have developed relationships with the DOE administration to get more money for staff salaries.

Professionals at LBL are organizing to win a union contract!

At LBL, and at UC campuses across the state, professionals are fighting for a voice on the job.  We will soon gather signatures to submit to the California Public Employee Relations Board; the board will them  conduct a secret ballot election allowing staff professionals to chose UPTE as their exclusive representative.  Then professionals can bargain for a union contract!

Who is included in the Professional unit?

There are about 13,000 professionals across the state.  At LBL about 500 will be included.  The most common job titles are:

• Accountant
• Administrative Specialist
• Administrator
• Budget Analyst
• Buyer
• Computer Systems Engineer
• Materials Specialist
• Write/Editor

How can I be involved?

Union representation can only be won if lab professionals are working together.

• Talk to your coworkers about voting for the union!
• Attend a lunchtime training to learn more about how to talk to your coworkers about the union. As a Lab professional you are the best at recruiting your coworkers because you know the most about your job, your work place, and how it could be improved.

Click here to browse our latest Local 184 Event Calendar!

To contact Local 184:

•     UPTE Local 184
            P.O. Box 4247
            Berkeley, CA 94704
            Phone (510)325-1787 \ (510)665-7722
            uptelbl@aol.com

• Doug Owen  W (510) 486-7682  DKOwen@lbl.gov

• John Spring, W (510) 495-2844, Meltroc@netzero.net

• Every first Wednesday of every month in furthest room off of Perseverance Hall in the Cafeteria. 12 Noon to 1 P.M.

• Meetings will be held 12-1 before and after the general membership meeting in a room to be announced over email before that meeting.

• Annually - March.

DOE/LBNL Contract 98

The current LBNL RPM

Please note:  LBNL TX bargaining unit employees are governed by the RPM as it appeared in
                     November, 1994.
                     LBNL RX bargaining unit employees are governed by the RPM as it appeared in
                     March, 1996.

The UPTE Statewide Homepage is <http://www.upte.org/>

To contact the UPTE Statewide Northern California Office:

• P.O. Box 4443
Berkeley CA  94704-0443
Phone (510) 704-UPTE (704-8783)
Fax (510) 704-8065
uptecwa@igc.org

Last revised on April 5, 2005.

All your comments and/or corrections are welcomed by the Pagemaster: UPTElbl@aol.com