As UC nurses reach tentative deal and call off strike, UC service workers walk off the job
-
Click here to listen to this article - Share via
- University of California nurses canceled a planned strike after reaching a tentative four-year contract with the university covering 25,000 registered nurses.
- The agreement follows UPTE’s tentative deal announced Nov. 8, marking the second major labor breakthrough after months of UC healthcare worker negotiations.
- Nurses say the contract secured important patient protections and resources, though a third union representing hospital support workers launched a strike Monday.
A planned labor strike by University of California nurses has been called off after the university system and the nurses union reached a tentative deal on pay and benefits, both groups announced.
But a strike by 40,000 service and patient-care workers began as planned Monday, as the university system has yet to reach a deal with AFSCME 3299. That union represents custodians, food service workers, patient-care assistants and hospital technicians, security guards, secretaries and other workers at UC campuses and hospitals.
The four-year deal announced Sunday between UC and the California Nurses Assn. covers about 25,000 registered nurses working across 19 UC facilities. The two groups had been bargaining over a new contract since June.
The deal follows another one announced Nov. 8 between UC and the University Professional and Technical Employees union, which represents 21,000 healthcare, research and technical professionals across the UC system. Those groups had been negotiating a new contract for 17 months.
The University of California and the union representing healthcare, research and technical employees reached a contract agreement, averting a possible strike.
AFSCME 3299, however, does not have a deal after nearly two years of bargaining and began a two-day strike at all UC facilities and hospitals to fight for cost-of-living increases. Its members represent the lowest-paid workers at UC.
Union spokesperson Todd Stenhouse said about a third of AFSCME 3299 jobs had a turnover in the last three years, because pay has not kept pace with inflation.
“There have been news reports about people sleeping in their cars, commuting three hours each way to work, because folks just simply cannot afford to live in or near the communities where they work,” he said.
UC said in a statement that it had plans in place to ensure patients continued to receive high quality care at all hospitals and clinics during the strike but warned there might be some delays in service. UC said it had offered AFSCME significant wage-increase proposals totaling 28% over five years.
The nurses association said that although they had reached a tentative deal, thousands of its members still planned to join AFSCME picket lines “while not on work time.”
Kristan Delmarty, a registered nurse at UCLA Santa Monica and member of the nurses association’s board of directors and bargaining team, said the union “organized for and won important patient protections” in the deal — which she said nurses would vote to approve this week.
“Going into this round of bargaining, it was our priority to ensure UC nurses were given the resources to care for our patients and ourselves after years of short-staffing and under-resourcing,” she said. “We achieved our goal and now we stand together with our AFSCME colleagues, whose essential work demands the same resources guaranteed by a fair contract.”
Thousands of University of California healthcare, research and technical employees began what’s expected to be a three-day strike Wednesday.
UC officials also lauded the deal with the nurses association. Missy Matella, associate vice president for systemwide employee and labor relations, said it “reflects the tireless work and collaboration of UC’s bargaining team, medical center leaders, and systemwide leadership working hand in hand with our dedicated nurses.”
“We’re grateful to the nurses and the CNA bargaining team for their partnership and shared commitment to what matters most: our patients and the UC community,” Matella said. “This strong, forward-looking deal honors the vital role nurses play in delivering exceptional care and advancing UC’s public service mission.”
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
So-Cal Edison likely sparked the Eaton Fire. CEO Pedro Pizarro gives host Kate Cagle his pitch for the Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program amid lawsuits accusing the company of negligence.
In this special “Rebuilding L.A.,” Kate Cagle examines fire recovery and resilience. Featuring Rick Caruso on rebuilding the Palisades a year after the fires.
In this specially released bonus episode, An entire bank heist crew was caught – except for one man. And he could have maybe kept it this way if he hadn’t decided to blow up that gosh darn ATM. L.A. Times journalist Nathan Solis tells the story in this week’s bonus episode.
