Nearly 12,000 members participated in our ratification vote, with 98% voting in favor of ratification. Our ratification vote means our new contract terms with the University of California and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are effective immediately.

Our new contract is an important foundation for the work we still have to do: addressing profession and department-specific issues, welcoming workers who work alongside us—but who UC has moved into non-union titles—back into our union, and preparing to take on other issues important to our members, both inside and outside of UC.

In 2025 alone, more than 2,000 non-union workers won UPTE representation—with thousands more working to win representation right now! This work is crucial to building our strength and density for future fights.

I hope we are all able to rest and enjoy the beginning of the holiday season with the security this contract provides. Congratulations to us all!

As part of the 2018-19 UCLA Organizing Committee, I was proud of the contract we won in 2019. It was similar to the nurses' contract - but took us nearly another year to win.

I am even prouder that this year, UPTE became the first union to win a strong Tentative Agreement (TA).

Today is the last day to vote—that's why I'm asking you to join me in casting your YES ballot to approve this historic contract now at upte.org/vote.

In this agreement, we won the largest raises UPTE has ever seen. Not only did we stop significant increases in premium costs for every pay band and coverage level of our PPO plans, we even managed to lower costs for 2026 for the UC Blue & Gold plan compared to our current rates.

But in order to lock in those victories, we first need to approve this TA. Vote yes now.

I’m an Animal Health Technician at UCSF who has faced significant financial struggles while pouring my heart into my work. At the beginning of our journey for a new contract, my goal was to show UC that their undervalued staff were so much more than just numbers on a badge—UPTE workers are the strong foundation on which patient care, research, and education are built.

That’s why I’m proud to vote YES on our tentative agreement, and why I am writing today to ask you to join me at upte.org/vote.

I’ve told my story countless times over the last many months, and I’ve seen how my experience resonates with colleagues; perhaps their family members would benefit from our neurodegenerative disease research, or maybe because they, too, were single parents attempting to make ends meet while the cost of living soared.

Our tentative agreement represents significant progress in resetting UC's priorities and making our work more sustainable. The year-to-year raises, equity pool adjustments, and our triumph on enforcing a $25 minimum across all of our job titles will be transformative for my colleagues who, like me, have long been overlooked by UC. This contract is proof positive that when we fight, we win.

Due to our Tentative Agreement (TA) with the University of California, UPTE is no longer striking on Monday and Tuesday, and you should report to work as normal. We encourage you to join AFSCME 3299 and CNA on their picket lines before work, as early as 7 am, and for 11:30 am / noon-time rallies.

I am excited to announce that more than 7,500 members have already submitted their ratification vote. If you haven't, submit yours here now! More members must vote YES than NO for the TA to become our contract.

Changes in the contract, including title-specific equity increases, will be effective retroactive to the first full pay period following ratification—November 23, 2025, for bi-weekly pay and December 1, 2025, for monthly pay—but may take up to 120 days to be processed and appear in a paycheck.

If you have questions about the TA, reach out to your UPTE Unit or Workplace Representative, or UPTE Organizer.

Unfortunately, the 2026 Blue & Gold and Kaiser premiums displayed in UC's Open Enrollment and Alex tools are inaccurate—they are based on UC's previous proposals at the bargaining table and UC has informed us that they are unable to update them at this point.

Our actual premiums for 2026 Blue & Gold and Kaiser plans based on our Tentative Agreement (TA) are available here. Our rates are lower for most members—but slightly higher for some—because we won subsidies that keep costs affordable for everyone; no matter how much you make or who you insure.

You can still make changes to your Open Enrollment choices through November 21st.

If you haven't already, review the other wins in our TA and vote to ratify the TA. Nearly 7,000 members voted on the first day! The TA will only become our contract if more members vote YES than NO.

UPTE and the University of California have reached a Tentative Agreement (TA) after the mediator brought us back into communications following days of mediation. This is a major victory for UPTE members across the University of California system and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: delivering significant pay increases over four years, predictable and progressive caps on healthcare premium increases, and improvements in work-life balance, career progression, and job security.

The TA summary is below. Further details about the TA and timing of a ratification vote will be forthcoming. RSVP for a presentation and Q&A on the Tentative Agreement on Wednesday, November 12, at noon, via Zoom. We will address all your questions about the agreement and the next steps in our campaign to reset UC's priorities.

This would not have been possible without the perseverance and commitment of thousands of UPTE members and more than one thousand unit and workplace representatives, who helped develop our platform and advocate for our patients, research, and students over the course of a two-year fight that included seven days on strike.

UPTE will be striking at all UC locations on November 17th and 18th in response to UC's failure to agree to a fair contract after 16 months of negotiations and 3 weeks of mediation. Learn more at upte.org/rsvp.

Our strike will be crucial to demonstrate our commitment to a contract that addresses the ongoing crisis of recruitment and retention which is endangering patient care and research.

That's why over ten thousand of our colleagues voted again to authorize our strike and why we are preparing for the largest strike in the history of the University of California. 

UC needs to see that we are more serious than ever about resetting UC's priorities. Attend your campus picket line to show them we won't rest until we get the contract our students, patients, and research deserve. 

Mediation with UC over our contract continues to be productive and will continue on Monday and Tuesday of next week. While our goal remains to reach a settlement prior to a strike, we must continue preparing for a strike to become a necessity.

Also, UC has imposed its proposed January 2025 step and July 2025 5% across-the-board and $25/hr minimum wage - with full retroactivity.

This imposition is a down payment on a good contract - and we need to use it to help us prepare to strike in larger numbers and for longer, if necessary.

UC has requested confidential mediation over our ongoing bargaining and UPTE has agreed to meet on October 17th, 23rd, and 24th. 

We do not know what - if anything - will come of mediation, but it is clear that UC's request to meet is a result of the momentum of our powerful strike vote and the imminent threat of the largest strike in UC history.

Mediation is confidential - similar to our mediation in January - unless either party makes a formal proposal. We will share any progress or lack thereof, as soon as possible following mediation.

More than 10,000 UPTE members have voted, with 97% in favor of authorizing a strike - even more than in our previous strike vote in February!

This sends yet another strong message to UC executives, who still have time to come back to the table with proposals that address UPTE members' priorities for resolving the crisis of recruitment and retention and prioritizing patient care, research, and education.

A strike could be announced at any time. The length of a strike will only be known when the strike is announced, which will be 10 days in advance of any strike that includes a UC hospital.

We have learned over the last 15 months that we won't get answers from UC at the bargaining table. We will only get answers—and the contract we deserve—by showing UC that we aren't going to be tricked into backing down from our fight.

UC wants us to think that their "Last, Best, Final" offer is a great deal. What is the truth?

UC has threatened to impose its "Last, Best and Final Offer" (LBFO)—review how far behind that offer would leave us and how much more we won in 2019 after UC's LBFO.

The most important thing each of us can do is vote to strike and prepare to be on the picket lines for a longer strike, if that is what it takes to convince UC to invest in frontline workers.

A YES vote will send a clear message to UC: we are prepared to strike for as long as it takes to win the changes we need to continue delivering world-class healthcare, doing world-class research, and providing world-class education.

Cast your ballot at upte.org/vote

Don't be confused by the term "Last, Best, and Final" offer. In 2019, we beat UC's attempt to cut the pension, won significantly more in raises and daily overtime pay by continuing to fight - and strike - following UC's Last, Best, and Final Offer (LBFO) and imposition.

UC is likely to impose a raise, along with their proposed healthcare cuts, without UPTE's agreement, in an attempt to confuse us and keep us from having a powerful strike.

We can't let that stop us from continuing our fight for our patients, our research, and or our students. Make sure all of your co-workers are committed to voting to strike on the first day of our vote - September 22nd - and are ready for a longer strike, if necessary!

Today, UC sent UPTE its "Last, Best, and Final Offer" (LBFO). Thisdoes not mean that UC will not improve its offer when we agree to a contract. 

Far from an actual "last, best and final" offer, this is a technical term for something UC must provide before it is allowed to implement any of its proposals without UPTE's agreement - something we should expect them to do in the following weeks.

UC made a "last, best, final offer" and then implemented its terms on our AFSCME siblings recently and to our Research and Technical members in 2019. We know that we can win more by continuing to fight, just like we did in 2019.

More than 15 months since we began negotiations, patients, research, and students continue to suffer as UC bargains in bad faith while continuing to pour billions into over-priced, luxury architecture.

UC systemwide strike vote
September 22 – October 2

Vote YES to strike
Details to be announced

Your YES vote on September 22 will send a strong message to UC's new President James B. Milliken: UC's behavior is unacceptable, and you are willing to strike for as long as it takes to win.

UPTE and the University have completed the final steps of the state-mandated impasse process with the release of a report by a neutral arbitrator. The report is not binding on either party: it is intended to help reach agreement but does not restrict UPTE's right to strike in order to win our demands.

Fact finding reports typically recommend the status quo and UC was unable to make such a case for their proposal to remove healthcare premium caps, leading the fact finder to conclude:

"This credit-based model does not exist in any other UC collective bargaining agreement. All comparator unions rely on premium caps or tiered structures—not flat monthly credits—to manage cost exposure. Furthermore, UC's proposed model lacks a cap on total employee premium increases, meaning that even with the credit, employees could face unbounded financial liability."

Over the past weeks, we have seen a familiar pattern from UC San Diego Health and UCSF Health executives: laying off frontline workers despite healthy reserves and revenues. Instead, these layoffs were likely aimed at securing more favorable terms for acquisition and construction plans.

Fortunately, UPTE's Workplace Representative Councils jumped into action, organizing mass actions, telling our stories of patient care and operational impacts publicly, and winning a reversal of a majority of these layoffs.

Leaders from UC San Francisco and UC San Diego will share their experiences in organizing and winning next Tuesday, July 22, 2025, via Zoom. RSVP here now!

UPTE met with UC on July 8 and 9, where UC provided "a new package of proposals" that includes no raises in 2028, no limits on increases to healthcare costs, no increased time off, and no right to vacant positions prior to layoff.

The most meaningful improvement was UC agreeing to UPTE's proposal to expand preferential rehire rights from just someone's home campus (e.g., UCSF) to all UC campuses and extend recall and rehire rights for HX unit members to three years for those with more than ten years of service (matching the RX & TX bargaining units). However, UC proposed reducing recall and rehire rights for those at Berkeley Lab (LBNL) from three years to one year, without providing an explanation. Check out a summary of UPTE's proposals compared to UC's here.

As UC sows confusion and misinformation about supposed 'financial constraints' while spending tens of billions on expansion and new construction, it is more important than ever that we hold the line on these issues.

UC San Diego and UC San Francisco announced significant, hospital-wide layoffs last week, with top hospital leadership demanding cuts of 1.5% and 1% of payroll across the board. Laying off frontline staff to finance expansion projects, amidst a well-documented crisis of short staffing, is unacceptable and puts patient care, research, and education at risk.

That's why UPTE's Unit Representatives at both campuses sprang into action, calling emergency meetings and organizing mass meetings to protest the layoffs, and joining pickets in solidarity with AFSCME and CNA workers who are also facing layoffs. UPTE members spoke to the press about the impacts of layoffs on patient care and operations, garnering important coverage across the state, including in the San Francisco Chronicle and 10News – ABC San Diego KGTV. Thanks to our quick response, some layoffs have already been rescinded, and we are continuing to build pressure to rescind the rest.

Tuesday, July 8, and Wednesday, July 9, will be our 13th bargaining session, and UC is refusing to provide a bargaining location at either UC Berkeley or UC San Francisco. We are looking into alternative locations in the Bay Area. After more than a year of bargaining, why is UC not doing its part to reach a fair agreement that addresses the recruitment and retention crisis?

The most recent state budget has restored UC's expected funding completely—and thus far, no major federal funding cuts have been made. Yet UC continues to use uncertainty as an excuse to dig in their heels on the same unfair proposals they made a year ago.

We hope that incoming UC President James B. Milliken will recognize that our demands are reasonable and that now is the time to settle a contract that will end the recruitment and retention crisis.