Tuesday at the bargaining table, we won strong agreements on job posting, worker evaluations, and health/safety, and we demanded big and needed improvements to transit and dependent healthcare — but UC was again focused on rolling back our rights. That’s why this Tuesday, April 26th, UC Academic Workers across every campus and job title are taking action to demand fair wages and a fair workplace!
Accessible and affordable healthcare for Academic Student Employees — and our dependants — is a fundamental issue of workplace equity. We proposed full dependent health coverage for all workers at more than 25% FTE, and increased benefits and parity between campuses.
We also proposed bold and expansive changes to our article on parking and transit. Not only is transportation the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, but the typical cost of car ownership can drain nearly four out of every ten dollars that we earn. Our proposals would give all ASEs free regional transit passes, and further incentivize public transit and carpool commutes.
On job posting, we proposed weeks ago that UC post all available ASE positions on a central campus website. We also demanded the right to include our own contextual information in our employee evaluations. On both issues, UC started off opposed, but ultimately conceded. We also won an agreement to keep our strong, current contract language on health and safety, which we’ve used throughout the pandemic to enforce our rights to a safe workplace for ourselves and our students.
UC’s counterproposals on union security, grievance and arbitration, discipline and dismissal, and appointment notification and security were once again attempts to turn back the clock on critical rights and protections. And, they proposed no strikes language that strips the hard-won right of ASEs to honor our individual conscience and refuse to cross a picket line on campus.
Our wins yesterday are a good step — and they show that our power is building already. But we’ll need much more to win the fair wages and fair workplace we deserve. Let’s show UC our unity and organization as we take action this Tuesday!