This past Tuesday and Wednesday, February 17th to 18th, SSAPs and RPSPs finished our first session of mediation with UC management through the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB). Our bargaining team and the University agreed to bring in a neutral third party mediator to work through difficult issues and facilitate a faster paced process. While the details of the back-and-forth in mediation are confidential, our tentative agreements will be shared on our bargaining tracker as we are able to share them. Once a full contract is reached, all RPSPs and SSAPs will participate in the democratic process and vote to ratify the contract.

During this mediation session, we reached tentative agreements on: 

• Transfer & Promotion, which will codify fair processes for reclassification when employees’ job responsibilities expand

• Employment Information, which will ensure all new employees have a job description and other vital employment information

• An addendum to the Recognition article regarding classifications 

• An agreement that guarantees employees whose in-unit status is still being reviewed based on supervisory duties will receive makeup pay or benefits should they be found to be included in our bargaining unit

With our successful cross-unit ULP Strike Authorization Votes, we have entered mediation with an undeniable demonstration of our unity and power. However, in order to make progress on all our priorities, RPSPs and SSAPs are planning our next steps to hold UC management accountable for their unfair labor practices. 

Join the Last Chance Picket & Day of Visibility organized by RPSPs, SSAPs, and ASEs at every campus – Thursday, March 12th from 12 PM to 2PM! These public shows of support and solidarity are key to showing UC our collective voice.

After months of bargaining and thousands of conversations between coworkers, 5194 staff and 16,557 Academic Student Employees have voted to authorize a ULP strike. This decisive result sends a clear message to UC management: now is the time to resolve their unfair labor practices and reach agreement on fair contracts for 40,000 workers.

With 93.3% voting yes, your bargaining team is authorized to call a strike if circumstances justify. UC leadership can cease their unlawful practices at any time and should do so now in order to avert further escalation. If progress is not made toward that end, our bargaining teams will invite you to further discussion of next steps.

What this means going forward:

• Our RPSP and SSAP bargaining teams will continue negotiations with UC, now mediated through the Public Employment Relations Board.

• No strike has yet been called; UC leadership is on notice that RPSPs and SSAPs are united, organized and ready to walk off the job if that’s what it takes to hold them accountable to bargain lawfully.

• More information will be provided as bargaining progresses.

The incredible number of people involved in standing together against these unfair labor practices speaks volumes about the unity, strength, and organization of the union we’ve formed together.

Victory: Trump administration drops appeal to force $1.2bn fine at UCLA

On Friday, the Trump administration dropped its appeal of a court order blocking the Department of Justice from imposing a $1.2 billion fine and sweeping ideological changes at UCLA. UAW 4811, as part of a coalition of other UC labor unions, first filed suit against the Trump administration in September 2025, after which a federal judge ordered the restoration of over $580 million in suspended research grants and blocked the $1.2 billion settlement agreement. While the fight is not over, this is another major victory in the fight to defend higher education, scientific research, and our 1st amendment rights on campus. 

Voting on ULP Strike Authorization has now closed. With 23,314 UC-UAW workers voting and 21,751 voting in favor (93.3%), the vote has PASSED in all three units. With this overwhelming result, UC management should be officially on notice that UC-UAW workers are united against their unfair labor practices and that they must bargain with all of us in good faith towards fair contracts. 

Specific unit breakdown is as follows:

Staff (SSAPs & RPSPs): 5597 voters with 5194 voting YES (92.80%)

ASEs: 17,717 voters with 16,557 voting YES (93.45%)

No strike has yet been called, but the bargaining teams are now authorized to call a ULP strike if UC continues to break the law. You may expect an email from your bargaining team next week about next steps. If you have any questions, please reply to this email or schedule a meeting here.

Today begins our ULP Strike Authorization Vote (SAV) in which 40,000 UC workers will respond to management’s Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs). For months on end, employees in the SSAP, RPSP, and ASE bargaining units have shown up prepared to negotiate in good faith. But rather than work with us to protect and improve UC careers, management has repeatedly chosen to break the law, needlessly obstructing progress toward agreements on urgent issues. 

Join your colleagues in voting YES to authorize your bargaining team to call an Unfair Labor Practice Strike if necessary. If UC management does not promptly resolve their unfair labor practices, your bargaining teams will invite all SSAPs and RPSPs to further discussion of next steps.

This vote is an absolutely critical opportunity to collectively let UC management know that we’re not going to allow their Unfair Labor Practices to stand in the way of a fair contract. Thousands of us voting together will send an unignorable message to leadership that it’s time they devote themselves to bargaining in good faith. 

The pressure from this ULP SAV has already moved management to request more bargaining dates in February and March via mediation through the Public Employment Relations Board. With strong ULP SAV participation, SSAPs and RPSPs will bring the power necessary to move the process forward through these mediated sessions. 

February 2-4 RPSPs and SSAPs met at the bargaining table with UC management for the three days leading up to our ULP Strike Authorization Vote. Due to mounting pressure, management finally reached agreement with us on some important, basic contract articles such as Grievance and Arbitration, but they have still not resolved their unfair labor practices that are preventing progress on our top priorities. You can help keep up the pressure by voting YES on the ULP Strike Authorization Vote. Thousands have already voted!

Today, you can do something tangible to push management to resolve their unfair labor practices that remain serious obstacles to bargaining over improved job security, fair pay, and workload protections for all of us.

This vote is already having an effect. On the eve of our SAV, management requested more bargaining dates in February and March via mediation through the Public Employment Relations Board. Our bargaining teams discussed and agreed to enter this process in the hope that it will move negotiations more quickly toward the strongest possible contract. Yet it is still imperative that management fulfill their legal obligation to provide us with the information needed to bargain and resolve their numerous other unfair labor practices. 

The first two mediation dates are February 17-18th. This is a new phase in our contract campaign, showing that our collective power can bring real decision-makers to the table so that we can negotiate the strongest first contract possible. We will have more information about next steps for mediation soon. What we know for sure is that only through demonstrating our power through this ULP Strike Authorization Vote can we ensure UC Management will bargain in good faith through mediation and resolve their unfair labor practices. 

During our sessions we came to tentative agreements on four articles that together strengthen job security, expand our rights in the workplace, and ensure that our contract can be enforced. They are: 

Discipline and Dismissal 

Union Access and Rights

Grievance and Arbitration

Union Security

Check these and our other tentatively agreed articles on the SSAP and RPSP Bargaining Tracker!

In the meantime, if you have questions about the SAV or how to get involved, schedule a meeting with another RPSP or SSAP at your campus here: Meet with a fellow RPSP or SSAP!

Before diving into this bargaining update, we’d like to express solidarity with the people of Minnesota and condemn the Trump administration’s lethal violence against communities across the country. Many people in our own SSAP, RPSP, and broader UC communities are impacted by the ongoing terrorization of immigrant communities, and it is more important than ever to continue caring for each other and taking collective action. You can read our union’s larger statement of solidarity here.

Bargaining Update

Last week, SSAPs and RPSPs had our 18th Bargaining Session from 1/21-1/23. Most contract articles are in management's court and staff continue to wait for a response. However, we did manage to reach a tentative agreement on a strong Work-Incurred Illness and Injury article, to ensure the rights of staff who need to take leave due after being hurt on the job.

Unfortunately, while we continue to show up in good faith, management continues to act unlawfully and push us towards an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike authorization vote. Nothing is preventing management from following the law, bargaining in good faith, and agreeing to a fair contract that allows staff to do our best work serving the mission of the university. But their unlawful labor practices, like withholding critical information, make it impossible to make meaningful progress on many of our most important issues. It’s time for management to side with staff.

SSAPs and RPSPs are escalating our campaign with a ULP Strike Authorization Vote (SAV), February 5th-13th. Hundreds of staff have already pledged to a powerful "Yes" vote on February 5th. If you haven’t already, take a minute to sign the pledge now.

The level of participation in this ULP Strike Authorization Vote will directly signal to management how quickly they need to resolve their unfair labor practices so that we can reach a fair agreement. There’s no more important time than these next two weeks to participate in your union and our contract campaign.

Each and every RPSP and SSAP (YES, that includes you!) can help this effort succeed by signing this pledge, sharing it with co-workers, and getting you and your team ready to vote Yes on February 5th.

Got questions? Check out our FAQ or connect with a member of your campus bargaining team to schedule a meeting.

In Audre Lorde’s poem, A Litany for Survival, she wrote, “Alone we are afraid, together we are feared.” Now is the time for solidarity and taking action.

Last Thursday and Friday, January 15th-16th, RPSPs and SSAPs proposed eight contract articles at the bargaining table while management proposed only four. 

Because management has yet to resolve their Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs), SSAPs and RPSPs are continuing to plan a Strike Authorization Vote (SAV), which will be held from February 5th through February 13th. Hundreds of SSAPs and RPSPs have pledged to help organize a strong majority to vote Yes on Day 1 of our ULP Strike Authorization Vote - can you take a minute to pledge too?

Management can resolve their unfair labor practices at any time so that negotiations can progress toward a fair agreement. We have two weeks to organize a powerful strike authorization vote and show UC that now is the time to bargain in good faith. All RPSPs and SSAPs can help this effort succeed by talking to our co-workers about participating. This week, you’re invited to join your campus-specific SAV Town Hall to learn more about how you can help!

Through two days of bargaining, RPSPs and SSAPs proposed an article on Grievance & Arbitration, the cornerstone of an enforceable contract. We also proposed articles on Layoffs and Bridge Funding to strengthen job protections and support unit members during gaps in funding, as well as articles on Leaves of Absence, Sick Leave, and Vacation. UC counterproposed on Union Access & Rights and Union Security, aiming to limit our union’s visibility to new employees, which we addressed with our own counterproposal toward the end of the session. UC also provided a first proposal on Medical Separation and a counterproposal on Work-Incurred Injury and Illness. See our bargaining updates page for more information.

Summary of actions you can take today:

• Sign the pledge to help make our ULP SAV successful

• RSVP and attend your campus’ ULP SAV Town Hall, and invite a co-worker

• Meet with a fellow RPSP or SSAP to learn more about the issues that prompt the vote

Following the 3 unfair labor practice (ULP) charges filed against UC management, we were able to reach some major tentative agreements (see details below)! However, management’s bad faith bargaining remains an obstacle to making progress on many priorities. It is clear that the only way to get UC to honor their obligation to bargain in good faith is to continue escalating. To that end, in response to management’s unlawful behavior, the bargaining teams are calling for SSAPs and RPSPs to hold a ULP Strike Authorization Vote (SAV) starting on Thursday, February 5. 

To make sure our SAV is successful and powerful, it’s important that all RPSPs and SSAPs do our part to win a fair contract and to pressure management to stop standing in the way of a strong, fair contract by committing ULPs.

At the same time, 28,000 Academic Student Employees are holding their own unfair labor practice strike authorization votes over management’s unlawful actions at their bargaining table. Check out this website to learn more about our parallel strike authorization votes!

In response to months of organizing and last week’s signaling that we are not going to tolerate their unfair labor practices, UC management agreed to four tentative agreements on Non-Discrimination, Respectful Work Environment, Reasonable Accommodation, and Leaves for Union Business. These represent transformative wins that significantly raise the standards for protections against discrimination, retaliation, abuse, harassment, and bullying in the workplace and uphold the right for employees with disabilities to access their workplace and conduct their work. Critically, these protections are fully enforceable through grievance and arbitration. 

However, UC management’s disappointing counterproposal on wages was nearly identical to their first proposal with only a trivial change – an initial raise from 3% to 3.2%, and 2% to 3% in subsequent years.

Management has still not fulfilled their legal obligation to provide information we need to negotiate on Wages, Healthcare, Retirement, Leaves, and more. Escalating towards a Strike Authorization Vote is necessary to continue holding management accountable to resolving their Unfair Labor Practices and reaching a fair agreement.

RPSP and SSAPs kicked off 2026 with more bargaining for our first union contract. Unfortunately, management has continued to bargain in bad faith. The University has repeatedly failed to meet its legal obligations, limiting progress towards agreement on our contract. In response, we have filed Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges.

Our latest ULP charges cites three ways UC has failed to meet their obligations:

1. Despite having a legal obligation to provide us with information about our wages and working conditions, they continue to ignore Requests for Information we made as far back as May 2025. Withholding this information prevents meaningful bargaining. How can we come to an agreement on our wages if we don’t even know how much the average SSAP or RPSP currently earns?

2. Instead of bargaining with us to create a contract that addresses our unique needs as RPSPs or SSAPs, UC continues to unlawfully tell us we need to accept agreements they’ve made with other UC staff unions. Obviously our union was not involved in the negotiation of those terms, and to insist we accept them constitutes bad faith bargaining. We formed our union in order to negotiate a contract that is responsive to our unit’s current needs and priorities.

3. The university has refused to meet its legal burden to negotiate with us over policy changes with substantial impacts on staff in our units.

Management’s refusal to negotiate in good faith requires us to hold UC accountable. Filing the ULP is an important legal step to force UC to meet its responsibilities, but it’s going to take each of us stepping up and defending our rights to ensure we end up with a strong contract. You can move our bargaining process forward by:

• Signing up for a short “CAT” (Contract Action Team) training to learn how to stay up-to-date, talk to your coworkers, and participate in the bargaining process

• Taking the Retirement and Healthcare Benefits Survey to share your priorities and help inform decision-making in our bargaining over benefits

This past week from December 16th through December 19th SSAPs and RPSPs jointly bargained with UC management for four days, completing our scheduled bargaining sessions for 2025. Unfortunately, UC Management is not engaging in good faith bargaining and as a result, preventing progress on our priority issues. Last week, SSAP-UAW filed an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) against the university for its ongoing refusal to fulfill their legal duty to provide us with information needed for bargaining, and a similar Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) for the RPSP unit will be filed in the immediate future, and it is clear that only by increasing pressure on management will SSAPs and RPSPs be able to bring the UC to the table to negotiate a fair contract in a timely manner.

In this four day session, we reached two tentative agreements on Travel Reimbursements and Performance Evaluations. These tentative agreements, respectively, guarantee that SSAPs and RPSPs will not bear the burden of work-related travel costs and have the right to rebut and contest incorrect or discriminatory performance evaluations. As with many aspects of this negotiation, management attempted to make the negotiated language unenforceable through the grievance and arbitration process; after 14 passes, we were finally able to agree on language that holds management accountable to following this provision of the contract.

At the very end of the four day session, management also moved toward us on Respectful Work Environment and Non-Discrimination, but refused to agree to our reasonable proposal containing the very same language that Academic Student Employees TA’d the week before.  For the first time, their proposals provided for full enforceability through grievance and arbitration, but more progress is necessary to reach agreement. SSAPs and RPSPs will continue to fight for enforceability throughout our contract so that management cannot ignore the rights and benefits we negotiate.

Meanwhile, we are still waiting for management’s responses on twenty-four articles, including high priority issues like wages and benefits. Continuing to pressure the UC to begin bargaining in good faith will require the collective participation of every RPSP and SSAP in the new year. Even as we prepare for winter closure, each of us can do the following as we move into 2026:

Sign up for a short “CAT” (Contract Action Team) training to learn how to stay up-to-date, talk to your coworkers, and participate in the bargaining process

Look through the online Bargaining Tracker to see the other proposals RPSPs and SSAPs made during this session, including Transfer and Promotion, Reasonable Accommodations, Immigration, Workload, Parking & Transportation, and Technology.

Into the New Year!

From December 3rd – 5th, RPSPs and SSAPs met UC management for our third, collective negotiating session and our first marathon, multi-day session. RPSPs and SSAPs made the most of it by increasing the amount of Tentative Agreements to 12 (out of 43 currently-proposed articles) and discussing 21 separate articles in total. 

This week was an especially significant milestone in our negotiations as we proposed articles on Wages, Retirement, and Health Benefits. The anxiety and suffering caused by years of stagnant wages, barriers to career growth, inaccessible and unaffordable healthcare, and a worsening retirement plan requires immediate action. Our articles aim to address these systemic issues by proposing:

1. Wage Steps and Guaranteed Annual Increases – Our pay should go up as we gain experience in our roles, and wage steps make sure that happens on top of an annual, across-the-board adjustment that keeps up with inflation

2. Improved Retirement Benefits and Options – We all deserve to retire in comfort and security, which is why we’ve proposed an employer-funded 403b account for all RPSPs and SSAPs to boost savings as well as the choice of stronger-tiered pension plans (lower employee contribution and earlier retirement) or savings choice plans with higher UC contributions

3. Health Care Benefits You Can Afford and Use – Elimination of premiums, lower deductibles and out-of-pocket caps, practical mental health care benefits, and UC-funded HRAs to pay for costs not covered in your chosen plan/geographic area

These proposals reflect our basic principles of fair, healthy, and safe working conditions and the recognition that our labor is essential to the well-being of UC and California. Our demands are not about greed or selfishness, but rather sustainability and justice for all with the urgency the situation demands. After all, if UC can afford to give its president a six-digit raise and spend tens of millions of dollars on new homes for its chancellors this year, then surely, they can afford to pay us our worth!

Unfortunately, management’s response at the bargaining table has been anything but fair or swift. The pressure from our recent proposals and especially our public rallies forced UC to schedule more dates, but they arrived with only a handful of proposals. They also failed to respond to the information requests we made that are critical for good faith bargaining over key issues such as compensation and healthcare. And even when they do engage, their movement is minimal, at best. It’s clear to us that they intend to stall and see if we’re serious about our demands. With a four-day bargaining session coming up December 16-19th, it’s time to tell UC to start bargaining in good faith and negotiate a fair contract!

It’s going to take each of us doing our part to win the compensation and contract we deserve. Here’s what you can do between now and the 16th:

1. Sign up for a short “CAT” (Contract Action Team) training to learn how to stay up-to-date, talk to your coworkers, and participate in the bargaining process

2. Take the Retirement and Healthcare Benefits Survey to share your priorities and help inform decision-making in our bargaining over benefits

3. Talk to at least two of your coworkers and make sure they join you in #1 and #2

On Wednesday, UC management showed up to bargain with Research and Public Service Professionals (RPSPs) and Student Services and Advising Professionals (SSAPs) with seven proposals — the most they’ve ever brought to a bargaining session. While at first it appeared they had heard our message that it’s time to get serious, the content of their proposals proved otherwise. Their opening wages proposal completely fails to address the soaring cost of living and their counter-proposal on Childcare Benefits simply hyperlinked what is already on the UC website. SSAPs and RPSPs unionized to help UC to live up to its mission and values; we are bargaining for meaningful improvements, not more of the same.

Today, we have a critical opportunity to put UC on course to a strong contract. Join the rally — rain or shine! — to urge leadership to bargain fairly and join workers in the larger fight against the federal government’s attacks on higher education.

The progress we make in the next bargaining sessions will be influenced by how much participation management sees from all 40,000 of us together rallying on every UC campus, TODAY, November 20th, at 4pm.

RPSPs completed our second joint bargaining session with UC management this Friday, November 14th. Through two sessions, UC agreed to extend the five Tentative Agreements that our SSAPs partners negotiated to benefit RPSPs (see bargaining tracker). Now that RPSPs and SSAPs have aligned our campaigns, we are bringing more speed and power to the bargaining table than either could on our own while UC continues to stall and present inadequate proposals.

Now is the time for each one of us to show UC leadership that we are united in our effort to win strong contracts that increase retention of the workers who carry out UC’s mission.

RSVP to join the rally for our rights and futures!

Friday’s progress:

RPSPs and SSAPs proposed:

1. Tentative Agreements for RPSPs (first proposal)

2. Performance Evaluations (counter)

3. Union Business Leave (counter)

4. Workspace Materials (first proposal)

5. Vacation (counter)

6. Indemnification (first proposal)

7. Union Access (counter)

8. Union Rights (counter)

9. Appointments (for SSAPs Only)

10. Floater Appointments (For SSAPs Only – Rejected)

UC management proposed:

1. Discipline and Dismissal (counter)

2. Grievance and Arbitration (counter)

**Visit the SSAP & RPSP Bargaining Tracker to see the details of everything exchanged up until this point in collective bargaining.

UC management’s counterproposals to Discipline & Dismissal and Grievance & Arbitration lacked meaningful movement towards our priorities. In our sessions so far, they’ve shown up late, unprepared, and without any urgency. 

If management doesn’t believe all RPSPs care about fighting for greater control and flexibility in our work arrangements, better wages, and our other demands, they won’t seriously negotiate. 

We have five bargaining dates left before 2025 ends. How much progress we make in these next bargaining sessions depends on how much participation management sees from all 12,000 SSAPs and RPSPs in our rally together on November 20th.

Good news – RPSPs and SSAPs have reached an agreement (link) with UC management that locks in planned healthcare premium reductions, while freezing rates for the plans whose costs UC had intended to increase in 2026. Between the 2025 and 2026 rates, the lower premium will be applied to the available plans in UCPath. These rates will apply for all of 2026. As we do not have a contract yet, SSAPs and RPSPs may show up as unrepresented in UCPath, so use the table linked here for guidance when enrolling in your healthcare plan.

Even if you have already entered your choices for 2026, you can continue to make changes until Open Enrollment closes at 5 p.m. on Friday, November 21, 2025.

Though this agreement is an important, short-term victory (through 2026), healthcare costs are rising rapidly across the country and especially at UC. SSAPs and RPSPs will continue to build our power to make sure management pays its fair share of these costs in our contracts for 2027 and beyond. RSVP to the rally on Nov 20th, 4pm at a UC campus near you!

This Wednesday, October 29th, marked the first joint bargaining session in which Student Services and Advising Professionals (SSAP-UAW) and Research and Public Service Professionals (RPSP-UAW) negotiated together, sitting across from UC management to campaign for fair contracts for us all. Through joining forces, over 12,000 staff across the UC  now wield significantly more bargaining power and can leverage it to win strong first contracts and advance our shared priorities even faster.

Also at this bargaining session, SSAPs and RPSPs made a proposal on Leaves of Absence, including expanded parental, bereavement, and military leave. Additionally, we proposed a groundbreaking article on childcare subsidies to offset the additional costs borne by working parents at UC–an article which would contribute to making our careers at UC equitable and sustainable. 

UC management proposed on Leaves for Union Business and countered our Union Security and Union Access Rights articles. Notably, management’s counters included significant limitations on our ability to organize in our workplace.

To see the details of all the article proposals, visit our Bargaining Tracker. The first page of the bargaining tracker has an explanation of how to use it to learn about the bargaining process thus far. If you have any questions, reach out to schedule a meeting with a contract action team member.

By forming a union, SSAPs and RPSPs have ensured that management cannot make unilateral changes to our working conditions, which includes unilateral increases to healthcare premiums. Yesterday the UC bargaining team confirmed that because of this, no one will see increases to healthcare rates next year. We are actively working with management to try to ensure that no one is negatively impacted by locking in 2025 rates for the duration of contract negotiations.

To make progress on any of these issues, it’s imperative that we take collective action. Join your UC-UAW colleagues at the November 20th contract campaign escalation rally! RSVP here.