UPTE President Dan Russell: “Take the contract platform pledge and help us demand world-class treatment for our world-class work”
Earlier this year, we officially unveiled our 2024 UC Contract Platform, which will reorient UC's priorities towards patient care, research, and education by demanding world-class treatment for our world-class work. This document represents the priorities identified by thousands of UPTE workers across the state during our bargaining survey campaign at the end of 2023. After reviewing your responses, it was clear that there were three key categories where we must fight for improvements:
Fair pay and career progression
Work/life balance
Job security & staffing
We need to demonstrate to UC administrators that we are united in our demands and ready to do what it takes to win—and you can take action right now to bring us closer to that goal. All you need to do is click here and pledge to vote YES on our platform during the ratification vote we'll hold from April 4 - 18. We'll be updating the list of dates, times, and locations for in-person voting at upte.org/vote.
We'll be doing more than just ratifying our platform during that vote—we'll also be electing our union's 26-member bargaining team. Our bargaining team will communicate the demands that healthcare, research, technical, and student health members at each campus, medical center, and laboratory have shared over the past year. You can nominate candidates online at upte.org/nominate.
Having a committed and diverse cross-section of members at the bargaining table means our needs will be centered in every proposal our union makes. It also means we have members who are experiencing bargaining firsthand and can tell their co-workers what's happening and bring their feedback to the table.
I am confident we will have great candidates for our bargaining team because so many of you have stepped up to take on roles as Unit Representatives over the last year. Our Unit Representatives spend a day each month meeting with one another and then reaching out to members at their campus, helping them to understand the issues that everyone at their chapter are facing.
To appear on the ballot, each nominee must turn in signatures of support from at least twenty five UPTE members at their campus/medical center and in their bargaining unit (research, technical, healthcare, and student health (at UC campuses with no medical centers)). Later this month, we'll announce a full list of candidates as well as final vote dates, times, and locations for bargaining team elections at upte.org/vote. We'll also be emailing out a link to our online ballot for people who aren't able to vote in person at their worksites on April 4.
Workers are the heart of UC. Because of us, millions of patients receive life-saving care, students across the system get a life-changing education, and we make the world a better place through cutting-edge research. We'll win the contract we deserve not just at the bargaining table, but with broad support and involvement in our workplaces from members like you. Take the pledge today to support our 2024 Contract Platform and be sure to cast your ballot between April 4 - 18.
