Union Negotiation News

From time to time, we have noted that after a major strike predominantly of student-workers, UC "professionalized" its approach to collective bargaining. Part of that approach is the issuance of releases concerning its view of the state of negotiations. UC recently released this account of current negotiations with one unit that will continue today:

The University of California (UC) and the United Auto Workers (UAW) continued negotiations on August 28, September 2, and September 11 on the first systemwide collective bargaining agreement covering roughly 1,600 Communications, Marketing, and Sales Professionals, known as ComMaS. During the August 28 session, the University passed a package proposal that included the articles from the RPSP and SSAP* agreements ratified on March 20, 2026, and a revised Side Letter on Subcontracting.

At the September 2 session, the University passed a package proposal that included the articles from the RPSP and SSAP March 2026 agreements,** as well as further revisions to the Side Letter on Subcontracting. UAW also passed a revised Side Letter on Subcontracting. The parties reached a tentative agreement on the Side Letter on Subcontracting, marking an important step toward a first contract. At the September 11 session, UC and UAW continued to exchange ideas to help resolve outstanding issues and move the parties closer to a first contract. UC welcomes the progress made and remains committed to engaging in good faith toward reaching an agreement.

UAW ComMaS-represented employees help connect UC with the public and the broader university community through communications, marketing, outreach, and related work that advances the university’s mission.

The parties will resume negotiations on September 17.

Source: https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/labor-news/uc-uaw-cm-09-15-26/.

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*RPSP = Research and Public Service Professionals. SSAP = Student Services and Advising Professionals.

**Since we don't have access to the negotiations, we don't know what these articles were. However, it should be noted that union contracts typically have a good deal of boilerplate provisions that repeat from contract to contract. An example would be language recognizing the union as the exclusive bargaining agent. It would not be surprising if such language in one UAW-UC contract was found in others.