Todd Stenhouse

Faced with a projected $340 million budget deficit, UC Berkeley is primarily turning to its employment base for cost-saving measures.

The UC system reached a tentative contract agreement Tuesday with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, or AFSCME Local 3299, a union that represents systemwide patient and service care workers.

Workers in AFSCME Local 3299 organized a strike Wednesday to protest working conditions.

In response to a labor dispute in the UC system, the Democratic National Committee, or DNC, announced that it is no longer planning to hold the Dec. 19 Democratic presidential debate at UCLA.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 has filed six new complaints against the UC system.

UC President Janet Napolitano spoke at the UC Office of the President, or UCOP, town hall on Tuesday — a quarterly meeting intended to address UCOP staff’s questions and concerns —reiterating her decision to step down on Aug. 1, 2020.

More than 400 workers, students and community members took to the streets Wednesday in a rally organized by AFSCME Local 3299 to protest widening racial and gender pay gaps in the UC workforce.

The State Assembly Subcommittee on Education voted Tuesday to delay funding to the UC system because of concerns with the UC Retirement Plan, proposed by UC President Janet Napolitano in March, which would cause the university to incur significant costs.

After seven months of protests by campus employees and students, UC Berkeley finalized plans to insource 69 campus workers from three private contract companies last week.

UC Berkeley will eliminate 500 staffing positions over the next two years as part of its ongoing efforts to reduce an annual deficit of $150 million, according to a campus memo sent to employees Monday.