SANTA CRUZ — After two years of negotiations, the University of California and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 union have reached a tentative contract agreement, avoiding an open-ended strike.
The union represents about 40,000 service workers and patient care workers across the University of California system. For around two years, the union has been without a contract. In that time, the union has held multiple short-term strikes, hoping to persuade the university to agree to contract terms. Those terms included higher wages and lower healthcare costs.
Finally, the union planned a systemwide open-ended strike, which would only conclude when the university agreed to a contract. That strike was set to begin Thursday. Wednesday night, into the early hours of Thursday morning, the union and the university struck a tentative agreement, prompting the union to call off the strike. Union members will vote on whether to ratify the agreement May 19-21.
“This process took persistence and involved great sacrifices by every single one of our members. The tentative agreements we’ve reached ensure they will be better off, and better able to keep pace with rising costs so they can build a better future for their families,” said Michael Avant, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, in a statement.
The terms of the tentative contract include lower healthcare costs and significant minimum wage increases. Once the contract is ratified, the minimum wage will be bumped from $19 per hour to $26.50 per hour. The rate will continue to increase, eventually reaching $30.10 by April 2029, according to the union’s website. Other terms include increased layoff protections and increased shift differentials.
For UC Santa Cruz, union leaders feel that wage increases and healthcare caps will be the most impactful changes. UC Santa Cruz workers face high costs of living in Santa Cruz County, and union leaders and members alike hope that the wage bumps will help ease those difficulties. Liz Perlman, executive director of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, also noted that keeping as many healthcare providers as possible will help UCSC workers given that Santa Cruz has a limited array of options for healthcare.
“I think that’s going to be a big win for workers in Santa Cruz,” Perlman said.
The University of California issued a statement on the deal, highlighting generous pay increases, healthcare caps and stipends, and other measures that address systemwide pay disparities.
“We’re glad to have reached an agreement with AFSCME that recognizes the important work these employees do every day across UC’s campuses and health centers,” said Missy Matella in a statement, associate vice president for Systemwide Employee and Labor Relations for the UC Office of the President. “This contract delivers meaningful pay increases and addresses some of the real affordability pressures our employees are facing, while allowing us to move forward together focused on UC’s mission of patient care, teaching and research.”
While the union is celebrating the agreement, leaders say that workers never should have been left without a contract for so long, and blame the university for delays.
“I think that the reason it’s taken two years is, frankly, on the university,” Perlman said. “They were driving an agenda that was a failure to really listen to members’ affordability concerns. We have members sleeping in their cars and struggling to pay rent.”
The union hopes that the contract adjustments will help those union members who have been living paycheck to paycheck with healthcare, childcare and housing costs.