Celebrate International Workers Day and Cinco De Mayo

UPTE Family Picnic

Saturday May 5^th

10am – 4pm

College Park Davis, Ca

(located one block north of Russell Blvd. and Howard Way)

 Fun for the entire family, Bar-B-Que, Bounce House for kids, Music and Games. Raffle for prizes. Free for all members and their families.

RSVP now to reserve your spot

(RSVP before April 30^th for an additional raffle ticket)

(Call 530-759-0803 or Email to Davisadmin@upte-cwa.org)

The conclusion of the task force was that the Nov. 18 incident “should and could have been prevented.”

The 13-member task force had plenty of blame to go around, finding Chancellor Linda Katehi and her administration responsible for a breakdown in communication and finding Chief of Police Annette Spicuzza at fault for a lack of leadership.

The report cites one officer whose name was redacted as saying while officers pepper sprayed seated students and protesters “the chief was standing in the surrounding crowd filming the actions with her cell phone.”

Task force investigators also found fault with the officers wielding the pepper spray, specifically the most recognized officer, Lt. John Pike. Though they were not allowed to interview Pike for the report “the task force found no justification for the officers’ use of pepper spray.”

The task force also didn’t buy the officers’ initial claim they felt surrounded by a hostile crowd because officers could easily be seen walking those arrested through the crowd.

Nikko Reynoso was part of the crowd pepper-spayed that day.

“I hope people are going to be accountable,” she said. “I didn’t think it would affect me, but it did. It carried. It was thick it was in my mouth on my clothes in my eyes.

But not everyone agrees with the report, or the blame.

“As someone who was there, I saw repeated warnings of students who were sitting in a line,” Nelson Harris said. “I think to not comply with that, they got exactly what they deserved.”

The 190-page “Reynoso Task Force Report” said the decision to use pepper spray against students who had gathered on the quad for an “Occupy UC Davis” protest against tuition costs “not supported by objective evidence and not authorized by policy.”

Among the other findings in the report:

• The incident was not managed according to plan.
• The pepper spray used (MK-9) was not an authorized weapon for UC Davis police offiers and officers were not trained in how to use it.
• Chancellor Katehi bears responsibility for deploying police at 3 p.m. to remove tents rather than earlier in the day or the night before
• Chancellor Katehi bears primary responsibility for failing to communicate her position that physical force should be avoided.
• Lt. JPike bears responsibility for the use of pepper spray on the students.

The report is highly critical of the actions of Police Chief Spicuzza before and after the incident and states “the command and leadership structure of the UCDPD is very dysfunctional.”

Spicuzza and Pike were placed on administrative leave after the incident.

RAW VIDEO: Police Pepper Spray Students

UC President Mark Yudof issued a statement after the report’s release saying in part that, “Even a cursory reading of the report confirms what we have known from the start: Friday, Nov. 18 was a bad day for the UC Davis community and for the entire UC system.

“We can and must do better. I look forward to working with Chancellor Katehi to repair the damage caused by this incident and to move this great campus forward.”

The release of the report was delayed after the UC Davis police union sued to block it, saying including names of officers would subject them to harassment. A judge OK’d the release of the report after names of most of the officers were redacted.

Lawyers for the union representing UC police argued the report might contain confidential information about the officers involved and asked Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo to delay the release and order UC to remove private information. UC attorneys said the report contains no such information and that it should be released immediately.

“This is a very important issue to the University of California,” UC attorney Nancy Sheehan told Grillo. “There are many people waiting for this report.”

The matter will be decided at a March 16 hearing in the same Oakland courtroom. The report was written by a panel led by former California Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso.

Police and their attorneys have not seen the report, said lawyer John Bakhit, who represents the officers, and will be allowed to read it before next week’s hearing. The attorneys just want to protect officers’ rights, he said.

“You can’t really unring a bell,” he said. “This information is protected by law.”

Online videos of the Nov. 18 incident have been viewed millions of times and appear to show UC Davis Officer John Pike calmly dousing seated protesters with a stream of pepper spray. The episode stoked worldwide anger and helped strengthen Occupy Wall Street protests around the U.S.

Pike and another UC Davis officer remain on administrative leave until the university’s police department completes its investigation, Bakhit said.

Attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of students who were pepper-sprayed, also told Grillo they intended to fight for the document’s release.

“We think the public has a right to this information,” ACLU lawyer Michael Risher told reporters.

“If the law really prevents the university from releasing this report, then we need to change the law.”

The first investigation into breakdowns that led to the pepper-spraying of students and others on the UC-Davis campus last November is expected to be unveiled at a campus meeting next Tuesday, the university announced this morning.

Cruz Reynoso, a former California Supreme Court associate justice, had headed up the probe of the on Nov. 18 incident that began when campus police attempted to remove students and Occupy protesters from the campus quad.

The UC president’s office oversaw the probe, one of several into the incident.

The time and location of Tuesday’s meeting will be announced later, the school said in a message posted on its website this morning.

**12pm, UCD Quad – Rally: speakers (TBA) and open mic

The UPTE-HX bargaining team met with the UC bargaining team from Tuesday, 2/14/2012, through Friday, 2/17/2012, at the UCOP offices in Oakland. This was the eighth such session since bargaining began in early October 2011. This was also the first bargaining session in more than a month, as the last bargaining session was at UC San Diego from January 11-13, 2012.

Much of the focus for these days of bargaining was on seeking equity raises for the Dietitian IIs and Senior Dietitians, who were formerly unrepresented but came under HX representation in September 2011. UC’s response was extremely varied, with some UC medical centers offering immediate equity raises ranging from 2% to 20% for each newly represented dietitian, and others offering no equity increases until the entire HX contract is completed.

Some medical centers were unable to make a clear, coherent proposal or even identify who these newly represented dietitians are. Further at all but one Medical Center placement on the newly created steps for the Dietitians was not based on their total, or even UC, years of experience. UC stated that the terms of the proposal were determined by the HR department at each medical center, and that some of those locations were not interested in improving their proposal. UC’s proposal for the Dietitian II’s and Senior Dietitian was not acceptable to the UPTE-HX bargaining team by the end of the bargaining session.

NOTE: Conference calls specifically for the Dietitians is being set up at two separate times (Tuesday at noon and Thursday at 6pm) next week to go over the proposals and work out what our next step for you should be. You should be getting a separate email soon with more information about the calls.

On the last day of bargaining, UC presented their second Article 5 Compensation proposal, which was only slightly improved from their initial proposal from December 2011. HX has been waiting for over a month, including cancelling an earlier bargaining session, so that UC would have time to come up with a wage proposal based on a contract that expires before July 1, 2013. What they passed across the table was again a 5-year contract with only an additional 0.5% added to the across the board wage increases. This proposal again came with the stipulation that UPTE-HX must accept PTO for all members and the two-tier 2013 pension proposal as part of a 5-year contract. UC stated this was their “bottom line offer.”

UPTE-HX Chief Negotiator Wendi Felson politely informed the UC team that UPTE-HX is not interested nor willing to negotiate the 2-tier pension changes or the reduced retiree health plan proposal at this time. HX further pointed out that other unions have recently received much higher wage increases in their new contracts than and we would expect the same for HX; that the medical centers are doing very well financially; and that the medical center CEO’s pay has been increasing by as much as 60% per year. Again it was firmly stated that this HX bargaining table wants a contract that expires by June 30, 2013.

HX also declined to extend the current contact any longer (it had previously been extended through 2/17/2012), which puts UPTE-HX into a “dynamic status quo” situation. Status quo means that most of the terms and conditions of your workplace can’t be changed by management, including such things as work hours, procedures, work schedules, lunch break times, uniforms, etc. There will be more coming out about this soon.

This also means that the option of mobilizing and initiating strike preparations is now available to UPTE-HX as the No Strikes article is no longer in place. It is essential that members take action at this critical crossroads in the bargaining process. We will be holding a System wide HX mobilizing and planning meeting at UC San Diego on Sunday, March 11th to make plans and discuss strategies to move bargaining forward to a successful contract. Please plan to come; we need everyone’s input and efforts at this time. This meeting is open to all; we will cover your expenses and help with transportation. Let your bargainer know so we can help make arrangements for you to come.

Also, be sure to check out Facebook page for more information and discussion. We want to use this space for discussion, comments and any questions on why fighting off both the PTO policy and the 2013 2-tier pension program is so critical. For this and any other aspect of bargaining, please contact your local HX bargaining team member.

Our next bargaining session is March 5th – 7th at UCLA. Local HX members are encouraged to attend.

Your bargaining team:
Wendi Felson, Clinical Laboratory Scientist (retired), Chief Negotiator
Jamie McDole, Case Manager, Davis
Sonia Palacio, Clinical Social Worker, Irvine
Tom Brewer, Clinical Laboratory Scientist, Los Angeles
TK Lee, Pharmacist, San Diego
Jason Rosenbury, Clinical Social Worker, San Francisco
Susan Rode, Student Health Centers

We thank Michele Freeman, CSW from UCSD, who was an alternate for TK Lee at this session

Education-related organizing in California in solidarity with Occupy everywhere

Commuters Can’t Miss The Millionaires Tax of 2012!

Freeway blogging! This morning at 8 freeway overpass locations all over California volunteers held giant signs touting the Millionaires Tax of 2012. This included Davis, through which thousands of  commuters pass on their way into Sacramento.

Media from all over the state, including ABC News, have covered the banners and the powerful message behind them: Our tax code needs to reflect the interests of middle-class Californians, not the special interests of corporate CEOs and their lobbyists. Now is the time to revamp our tax code here in California so it’s fair to the 99% of us who play by the rules, not just the 1% who lobby hard and re-write the rules.  For more information go to http://www.millionairestaxca.com/

The seventh contract meeting between the University Professionals and  Technical Employees Healthcare Professionals Unit (UPTE HX) and University of  California (UC) took place in San Diego from January 11, 2012 to January 13,  2011. In the end, UC and UPTE HX could not come to an agreement on the length  of the contract, with UC wanting a multi-year deal and UPTE HX wanting a deal  that will end the contract around July 1, 2013 or earlier.

UC has reiterated their position that they are looking for a  long term contract with the University Professionals and Technical Employees  Healthcare Professionals Unit (UPTE HX). They wanted UPTE HX to agree to a  multi-year contract that included:

1. UC’s new pension proposal, they are now  calling the “2013 Tier” but is the 2-tier plan;
2. increased employee pension  contributions in 2012 (an additional 1.5%) and 2013 (up to 6.5% total);
3.   a new retiree healthcare plan which will increase costs significantly upon retirement and affect about 50% of  our current members;
4. the Paid Time Off (PTO)  system in lieu of our current vacation/sick benefits to all locations where PTO  is offered.

They have restated that they are willing to offer a better wage and  compensation proposal than their first proposal in December if we agree to both  the 2-Tier pension plan and the PTO. Their proposal did not include experience  based steps, little additional market equity, increased evening or night  differentials, or stipends for exempts. Their proposals have included  eliminating Reduced Severance if laid off; no seniority in layoffs;  restrictions on leave to work for the union and even more take-aways.

UPTE HX is not going to accept a long term deal that will  include the 2013 2-Tier and PTO. The UPTE System wide Executive Board of Directors  (E-Board) has unanimously voted that the HX unit should not accept the 2-tier  pension plan and PTO at this round of contract negotiation.

UPTE feels this HX unit will be in a much  stronger negotiating position on the 2-tier pension proposal in late 2012 and  2013 when UPTE’s TX/RX units, California Nurses Association (CNA) and AFSME  will also be bargaining the 2-tier pension and reduced retiree healthcare plan. The Union Coalition feels that the 2-tier  pension will hurt current UC employees as well as future employees hired after  July 1, 2013.

Further, the Coalition can’t make a valid counter-proposal on  UC’s proposed 2-tier pension/retiree healthcare without having more fiduciary  facts on the current pension as well as the proposed second tier pension. This  will take time to develop and we do not want to hold up a new HX contract with  wage increases for our members until that process is complete.

As a result, the two sides have suspended previously  scheduled negotiations on January 23-25. As it stands now, our contract, which  was extended for a month, is due to expire on January 31, 2012. Needless to  say, the UPTE bargaining team is very disappointed with this outcome.

NOTE: New bargaining sessions have just been set up for  February 14-17th at the UC’s offices in Oakland. Your HX bargaining  team and activists have come up with several plans to help “encourage” UC to  accept a contract that expires by June 30th, 2013 and to also get  our members market wages. To help with this last, large push for a fair  contract, contact one of the bargaining team members below or your local UPTE  representative.

Your bargaining team:
Wendi Felson, Clinical Laboratory Scientist (retired), Chief Negotiator
Jamie McDole, Case Manager, Davis
Sonia Palacio, Clinical Social Worker, Irvine
Tom Brewer, Clinical Laboratory Scientist, Los Angeles
TK Lee, Pharmacist, San Diego
Jason Rosenbury, Clinical Social Worker, San Francisco
Susan Rode, Student Health Centers