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UC officials this week announced two more labor agreements, one with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, on behalf of UC service employees; and the other with the California Nurses Association.

The university and the CNA came to their tentative deal late Thursday (Jan. 29), according to a news release from the UC  Office of the President. The contract covers UC's more than 10,000 nurses, and, if ratified by the union, would be effective from the date of ratification through Sept. 30, 2010, with additional limited-subject ("reopener") negotiations beginning later this year.

Under the accord, nurses at all locations would receive market-competitive wage increases totaling approximately $32 million through Sept. 30, 2009, including a 2 percent within-range step increase in July 2009.

UC officials noted that wages for medical center nurses are supported by hospital revenues, not state funds.

The deal also states that UC will continue to include meals and breaks when assessing staffing needs.

Service employees

The AFSCME deal, announced in a UC news release dated Jan. 28, involves a new, five-year contract for more than 8,000 service workers.

This is one of two UC deals with AFSCME. The other is with some 11,000 patient-care employees, who have a new five-year agreement of their own. UC announced a deal with the patient-care employees on Oct. 21, and union members ratified the contract on Nov. 13.

UC’s AFSCME-represented service employees now will have a chance to vote on their new contract. If ratified, it would be effective from the date of ratification through Jan. 31, 2013.

UC officials said the tentative pact with the AFSCME service employees calls for more than $64 million in total wage increases over the life of the contract. Specifically, the pact includes 3 percent across-the-board wage increases in each year of the contract, an additional 1 percent across-the-board increase effective in July 2009, and increases in minimum hourly rates from $10.28 to $14 by the end of the contract.

An estimate from UC indicates that the average hourly pay for a UC service employee would increase from $14.35 to $18.39 over the life of the contract.

Health benefits and retirement

Under both new contracts, nurses and service employees would be eligible for the same health benefits as other UC employees.

Each contract also addresses the pending restart of employee contributions to the UC Retirement Plan. In the first year, the university intends to simply redirect the money that employees are now paying into the UC Defined Contribution Plan, putting the money into the retirement plan instead. Therefore, employees would see no decrease in their net take-home pay.

UC officials said the AFSCME service employees, in their tentative deal, agreed to having the Defined Contribution Plan money redirected to the retirement plan.

The CNA did not agree. Instead, in the nurses' tentative deal, the university guarantees that it will engage in bargaining with the union before requiring retirement contributions from nurses.