It’s important to thank the unions at UC for this latest development. Without their successes at the bargaining table, UC wouldn’t feel the pressure to grant any pay increases at all to unrepresented staff, including Administrative Professionals (APS).

It’s also important to realize that UC’s 3% solution is more of a gesture than a substantive raise, since it comes after:

• 4 years of no pay raises
• an average 6% pay cut 2010-2011 when furloughs were in effect
• rapidly rising health care premiums (many HealthNet premiums increased 110% in 2011)
• increased mandatory contributions to the pension fund (1.5% so far, more coming)

The ability of unions to preserve competitive pay is in stark contrast to years of inadequate and non-existent pay increases for staff without a union. Compare UC’s latest 3% solution for staff without union contracts to UPTE-CWA’s latest agreement for UC’s 8,000 technical and research professionals. In the current year of UPTE-CWA’s contact, 3% of the approximate 5% annual pay increase is guaranteed, with the additional 2% going to those whose performance is evaluated as at least “satisfactory.” The agreement provides up to 15% in pay increases over three years. The entire 3% of UC’s proposed raise for non-union staff is discretionary. Campuses, medical centers and control units can use any method they like to allocate the 3% merit pool. This leaves a lot of room for arbitrary, unilateral decisions on the part of UC officials or supervisors. For example, one unit may decide that "meets expectations" in an evaluation equals a 3% increase, while another may decide that "meets expectations" equals a range of 1.5%-2.5%, while only those with an “exceeds expectations” rating will get an increase of 3% or more.

Coming after four years of no pay increases, it seems most fair to allocate the 3% as an across-the-board increase and not link it to performance. Even in challenging budget times, dedicated staff deserve fair pay raises to keep up with the cost of living. To guarantee such raises, APs need a collective voice at the bargaining table, like 90,000 other UC employees already have.

Join our campaign for union representation with UPTE-CWA by signing this commitment card.  Organizing committees are active on every UC campuses. We welcome your energy and insights. Want to talk with your coworkers about the issues during this exciting campaign? Contact us for more information on how you can become involved.

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