UC and Employees Union End Labor Dispute, Reach tentative agreement

January 29, 2008

California - The University of California and the union that represents the system's 8,500 drivers, cafeteria workers, gardeners, and custodians announced Wednesday a tentative contract settlement. The agreement ends the dispute that lasted for 18 months which triggered protest rallies at meetings of regents and elsewhere, and a five-day strike last summer.

Service workers' representatives said that numerous poverty-level earnings in five medical centers and ten UC campuses normally range from $10 to $20 per hour. Under the contract, there would be a new statewide minimum pay rate of $12 an hour that would be effective later this year and that would increase to $14 per hour over five years. Additionally, workers will receive other increases of 4% this year and 3% in each of the next four years.

According to Lakesha Harrison, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, the union did not attained everything it sought, but it won historic concessions, including establishing a minimum pay rate across the UC system.

Officials of UC estimated that a UC service employee's average hourly pay will increase from $14.35 to $18.39 over the life of the agreement.