17 months later, UPTE and UC arrive at tentative agreement days after strike announcement | UC

University Professional and Technical Employees CWA Local 9119, or UPTE, struck a tentative agreement Saturday with the University of California after 17 months of negotiation and only two days after declaring its intention to strike.

UPTE, which represents more than 22,000 research, technical and health care workers in the UC system, will no longer walk out with the more than 60,000 other UC union members planning to strike Nov. 17 and 18. 

While UPTE members must still vote to ratify the agreement, both the UC system and UPTE remain hopeful about an end to what had been a mired negotiation process. Neither UPTE nor the university, however, attributed this resolution to the threat of a strike.

“I think we are feeling really good. The bargaining team is really enthusiastically and unanimously recommending a ‘yes’ in the ratification vote,” said UPTE Treasurer Amy Fletcher. “Our goal has always been to get a fair contract, not to go on strike. So we are just really grateful that we’re in this situation.” 

Should UPTE’s members vote to ratify the agreement, it would mark the end of a tense process of negotiations which has seen UPTE strike three times since talks about a new contract began in June 2024. UPTE’s contract with the UC system expired in October 2024. 

Since then, UPTE has repeatedly decried what it sees as the university’s lavish excess — spending $175.8 million in cash to purchase the Residence Inn in Berkeley, for example — while it refuses to provide for its workers, according to an UPTE press release. 

The UC system has maintained that it must balance the concerns of workers with the ongoing uncertainty of funding from state and federal sources.Until Saturday, the two sides were at an impasse, as the UC’s last, best and final offer, or LBFO, presented Sept. 10, failed to meet the union’s demands. 

The agreement, now pending ratification, looks to address much of UPTE’s concerns about affordability. 

On almost all terms, the agreement reflects concessions by the university on its LBFO. Fletcher expressed union members’ satisfaction with the outcome.

“One of our team members is like, ‘I think I’ll be able to move out on my own,’” Fletcher said. “We’ve addressed our key priorities like fair pay, work-life balance, job security and career advancement.”

For annual pay increases, for instance, the tentative agreement provides for roughly double the LBFO’s number. 

The university, however, maintains that such concessions had nothing to do with the threat of a strike. 

“This agreement was not a result of strike plans. After talks broke down earlier this week, UPTE approached the mediator to re-engage with UC,”  said Senior Director of Labor Communications for the UC Office of the President Heather Hansen in an email. 

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, Local 3299 and the California Nurses Association, or CNA, are still set to strike beginning next week. The university is still bargaining with both unions to reach an agreement on their contracts.

When asked if UPTE had communicated with the other unions prior to pulling out of the strike, Fletcher said, “We don’t talk to the other unions, but we stand with our AFSCME and CNA siblings in solidarity.”

Voting to ratify UPTE’s tentative agreement is slated to begin Thursday.