After Long Fight, Union, UC Settle On Wage Increase

After a year and a half of demonstrations, union officials reached an agreement with UC officials Tuesday increasing wages for thousands of custodians and other workers in the UC system.

The agreement made between the university and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 will increase per-hour custodial wages at the Berkeley, Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara campuses by a total of $1.75, while increasing hourly custodial wages by $0.50 at the other UC campuses, affecting approximately 3,000 custodians in total.

The agreement will also include groundskeepers at UC Irvine as employees of the UC system.

Though the pay increase is not enough to eliminate the wage disparity between UC custodial workers and those at Bay Area community colleges, it is a significant first step toward sustainable wages for UC custodians, said Lakesha Harrison, president of the union.

“I feel good because we were fighting for it for more than a year. Finally, with help from the politicians and many people around us who support us, we won,” said Teodora Gonzalez, a custodian who works at Unit 1. “I know that is not enough, but at least we got something.”

Last month, former California State Senator John Burton released a proposal similar to the agreement, aiming to end the wage dispute before UC Berkeley’s May 10 commencement ceremony.

Members of the labor union accepted Burton’s proposal in early May, leaving UC with the decision of whether or not to adopt the agreement.

UC spokesperson Nicole Savickas said Burton’s involvement helped keep the dialogue open, but that the process was a long one.

“Ultimately, the agreement we reached with AFSCME was based on months of proposals and counter-proposals and represented a compromise on both sides in the interest of our employees,” Savickas said in an e-mail.

Union members are currently preparing for contract negotiations with the university, Harrison said. Of primary concern are the issues of rising health care costs and pensions for service and patient-care employees in the UC system.

“I think that our main goal of the upcoming negotiations is to have parity with the community colleges and with other market forces,” union organizer Deborah Grabelle said.

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