Agreement reached with Teamsters

Blog readers - if they have been listening to the audios from our posts on recent Regents meetings - that there have been protests by Teamsters over an open contract negotiation with UC. However, a tentative deal has now been reached:

UC, Teamsters Local 2010 reach provisional labor agreement

By Ahna Straube | March 23, 2017 | Daily Cal

The University of California has reached a provisional labor agreement with Teamsters Local 2010 on a contract that would cover more than 11,000 clerical employees, according to a UC press release issued Thursday.

The contract will be effective through March 31, 2022, upon approval by Teamster membership, the press release stated.

Teamsters is a union of more than 14,000 employees within the UC system and is affiliated with 1.4 million members throughout the United States and Canada, according to the Teamsters website. The union’s mission is to gain better wages, benefits and working conditions for its members.

Elise Magno, a union representative for Teamsters, said the union comprises library assistants, police dispatchers, early childhood teachers, cashiers and administrative support.

In February, Teamsters protested unfair wages and a new 401(k)-style retirement plan outside UC executive offices in Downtown Oakland. Prior to the protest, the UC Board of Regents had approved a new retirement tier that included a “capped” version of the existing pension.

Magno said Teamsters has been working toward a tentative agreement with the university since last April. According to Magno, the union and the university conducted negotiations last Wednesday. She added that there was “a lot of movement” between both entities.

“I hold the local union’s opinion (that) this is a democratic process,” Magno said.

According to the press release, the proposed contract includes an annual 3 percent wage increase, a $1,200 bonus per clerical employee, a $25 limit on any rate increase to Kaiser Permanente and Health Net Blue & Gold health insurance plans and the continuation of current retirement benefits for employees hired before July 1, 2016.

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement that maintains competitive wages and benefits for our clerical colleagues and recognizes the important role they play in keeping our campuses and medical centers running,” said Dwaine Duckett, UC vice president for systemwide human resources, in the press release.

Teamsters-represented employees are expected to vote on the provisional agreement in the next three weeks, according to Magno.

Source: http://www.dailycal.org/2017/03/23/uc-teamsters-local-2010-reach-provisional-labor-agreement/

Note: The union's summary of the tentative agreement indicates that it accepts the lower-tier pension arrangement for new hires that the Regents approved. Some of the protests in the past focused on the pension. The summary states:

New hires will have choice of the defined benefit pension or defined contribution plan, just like non-represented employees and members of the following Unions: IX & LX-Units: AFT; DX-Unit: UAPD/AFSCME; K2-Unit - San Francisco BTC; K5-Unit: IUOE; KB-Unit: Alameda County BTC; K8 & K9 & KM-Units-SETC.

Source: http://teamsters2010.org/Campaigns/Ratification/TASummary_3-20-17.pdf [p. 4]