Please find the second edition of our UPTE UPDATE below.
UC UPDATES
Pay Raises Coming First Pay Period in July
UPTE members under contracts will see their hard-won, across-the-board wage increases soon.
Members covered in our Healthcare contract will receive a three percent boost to their pay, while members under Research and Technical contracts will gain a three and a half percent increase.
The University of California Board of Regents also recently approved a three percent raise for unrepresented staff members starting in July.
You should begin to see the changes in your paycheck in the first full pay period after July 1st.
UC President Drake Declares Monday, June 28th, Holiday in Honor of Juneteenth
Last Thursday, President Biden signed a law declaring June 19th, Juneteenth, a federal holiday.
On June 19th, 1865, the Union Army proclaimed and enforced the freedom of enslaved people in Texas, the last state of the Confederacy with institutional slavery.
University of California President Drake declared the date a UC holiday going forward.
This year, because the UC had little time to prepare, President Drake announced that UC will celebrate Juneteenth on Monday, June 28th.
UC medical centers may observe Juneteenth as a floating holiday.
Please take the day off to observe our freedoms.
Tell the UC Regents: Reject Discriminatory Restrictions on LGBTQIA+ Healthcare
This Wednesday, the UC Board of Regents will hold a special meeting to decide the future of the University’s harmful contracts with health institutions that deny LGBTQIA+ patients the care they need.
Our friends at Equality California created a petition that asks Regents to reject discriminatory and dangerous restrictions on the LGBTQIA+ community.
COMMUNITY COLLEGE UPDATE
Hire More Full-Time Staff
UPTE recently learned that the state legislature is debating a budget item that would allocate $170 million into our community college system to hire 2,000 additional full-time faculty members.
UPTE President Jamie McDole sent a letter to Chancellor Ortiz Oakley urging California Community Colleges to accept these funds and emphasize converting part-time, temporary teachers to tenure track positions.
LAB UPDATES
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Employees Keep Fighting for Fair Conditions
For the last two years, management at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has pushed back on SPSE-UPTE’S requests to have its workers compensated fairly for the work they perform.
LLNL continues to insist on offering our skilled trades workers wage proposals that fall short of industry standards.
This situation has led to safety issues, as the lab has been unable to retain or gain top talent.
For the last couple of months, our lab members have held informational pickets outside LLNL to support fair pay and safer working conditions. They held their most recent rally on June 16th.
We will let you know the next time the group pickets. Please come out to support our lab workers.
GENERAL UPDATES
Call for UPTE Photos
Do you have photos of UPTE activities? Do you have pictures of yourself performing your job? UPTE wants your images for union materials. If you are willing to share them, send them to sfelsing@upte-cwa.org.
HEADLINES
Note
Several campuses have begun to announce vaccination policies for UC employees. Because UPTE members are represented by a Union, the UC is required to bargain with us before implementing changes to our working conditions. UPTE members are actively engaged in those negotiations this month. We are committed to ensuring that our members’ rights are respected while achieving the safest environment for all as we prepare to reopen campuses this Fall. Set forth below is a story about the tentative vaccine policy at UC Berkeley.
California college system makes COVID vaccines mandatory for students, staff & faculty
https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article252138713.html
Some university employees are concerned about mandated vaccinations. The University Professional and Technical Employees Union was among a group of unions….
President Drake announces Juneteenth a new UC holiday
https://news.ucsc.edu/2021/06/juneteenth-holiday.html
UC says it will meet 2025 carbon neutral goal, yet remains a massive California polluter
https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/article252068233.html
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