UPTE members voted Yes to Strike

MEDIA ADVISORY: For immediate release, October 12, 2018

15,000 Striking in Solidarity at University of California

Earlier this week, tens of thousands of UC employees represented by UPTE-CWA 9119 and AFSCME 3299 voted to authorize their leadership to call for a strike should that be necessary.

The solidarity between the tens of thousands of workers who deliver quality healthcare, education, and research at UC’s 10 Campuses, 5 Medical Centers, and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab was on full display in May’s historic strike.

These bonds will strengthen as UC doubles down, imposing employment terms on AFSCME’s Patient Care Technical Unit, terms that are similar to the proposals made to UPTE.

“UC claims to care about its patients and its employees,” said UPTE President Jamie McDole, who is a Case Manager at UC Davis Medical Center, “but turns around and imposes cuts on the AFSCME workers who are directly responsible for quality patient care as UPTE workers like me. This will only erode care quality and UPTE members are not going to stand by and let UC get away with that.”

15,000 Healthcare, Research, and Technical professionals represented by UPTE voted to authorize a strike by 97% - and will be striking October 23-25 in solidarity with their colleagues in AFSCME’s Patient Care Technical (EX) unit, who announced their strike earlier today.

AFSCME’s Patient Care Technical workers work alongside Clinical Laboratory Scientists, Clinical Social Workers, Pharmacists, Physical  therapists, and dozens of other UPTE-represented classifications in UC medical centers and student health clinics. UC’s attempts to undermine working standards and outsource Patient Care Technical jobs directly impact the quality of care that UPTE workers are able to provide to millions of Californians.

The stark contrast between UC’s treatment of its executives and administrators and its treatment of frontline workers demonstrates the unfairness and inequality behind UC’s actions. “UC’s backwards priorities are on full display here,” remarked Enrique Trinidad, a Nuclear Medicine Technologist at UC Irvine. “UC has no shame handing out 5 figure raises to Medical Center CEOs who make more in a month than most AFSCME Patient Care workers make in a year.”

UPTE-represented workers will be striking under the banner ‘UC for the Many, Not the Few’ to highlight their commitment to not only making sure that UC management respects its workers but that they are held to their mission of public service - providing quality healthcare, education, and research to all Californians; not just the enriching their Regents, Chancellors, and CEOs.

Contact UPTE Executive Vice President Dan Russell at 510-813-5510 for further information.