There seems to be a new tone in UC labor relations policy that stems from the student-worker strike of late 2022. Of course, UC had been dealing with labor unions long before that strike. But in October 2022, UC brought in a new AVP for employment and labor relations - Missy Matella - who had held a similar position at the University of Oregon. If you examine news releases by UC, they are mostly announcements concerning other matters such as responses to state budget proposals, prestigious awards to faculty, etc. To the extent they touched on labor relations in the past, the releases mainly noted that contracts had been signed with this or that union.
More recently, the news releases present the university's view of specific labor relations issues as they are happening and tout contract offers by UC during ongoing negotiations, as the image accompanying this post illustrates with regard to a negotiation with AFSCME. During the recent, and now temporarily restrained UAW strike, the news releases presented the university's position at PERB and in court. In the AFSCME case, you can look at the release as an attempt to show UC generosity, i.e., good general PR, but also as an attempt to convince union members that they are being offered a generous Good Deal. Implicit is the idea that striking for more would be unreasonable and perhaps unfruitful. Whether this approach is ultimately successful is another matter, but there seems to have been an effort by UCOP to professionalize the labor relations function, triggered by the 2022 strike. The more recent UAW strike, if anything, has reinforced that effort.
The full news release show in the illustration is at:
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/uc-offers-afscme-new-wage-and-health-care-cost-proposals. The release was promoted on X (Twitter):
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