The UAPD Bargaining Team had two negotiation sessions with the University last week. UC raised their initial 1.5% across-the-board salary offer to 2%, but said their offer is still for the first year only. In the subsequent three contract years, raises for student health center physicians and dentists would equal system-wide raises that non-unionized staff might receive, i.e., nothing is guaranteed.
To put that in perspective, AFSCME-represented patient care workers will receive 19.5% in across-the-board increases in the next four years, plus a 2% step increase each year. The UAPD team has proposed across-the-board raises for each year of the contract and step increases that are consistent with what other unionized workers have received.
While Friday’s offer is insulting in its own right, it is especially outrageous because it directly followed a presentation by UCOP’s compensation division. Two staff from that division walked us through the various surveys and methodologies they use to determine appropriate salary ranges. The results they presented: a median annual full-time CA student health physician salary of $190,000. UC’s 2% offer would leave the overwhelming majority of student health physicians under that median.
Based on the pattern that UC has set in other union negotiations, and the salary data their own staff presented, the UAPD team immediately responded that UC’s latest proposal isn’t even worth discussion. This leaves open the question of what action student health doctors can take in the face of the University’s determination to prevent a fair and respectful agreement.