Just Vote Newsletter No. 27

February 20, 2008

I am hoping that the 900 or so petitions that I mailed to UCSF and UCLA last week will provide enough petitions to get us over the 30% level required to hold a vote. I urge all of you at the other campuses to fill out your petition and send it to me in the self addressed stamped envelope that I provided if you have not yet done so. If you are a UPTE RX represented person and did not get a petition to sign by snail mail, you can download it at http://www.justvoteuc.org/DecertificationPetion.html. Do not send one if you belong to the TX (Technical workers) or HX (Health workers), it will not be valid. Petitions can only be sent by RX workers (SRA's or Museum Scientists). Send it to Just Vote uc, PO Box 26847, San Diego CA 92126.

You can calculate for yourself how far your pay has fallen behind UC workers not represented by UPTE during the current contract period (October 2004 to June 2008). I have a spreadsheet that compares the raises received by a typical UC RX employee represented by UPTE and one not represented by any union making $30,000 a year. A person not represented by a union who received the stated UC raises, making $30,000 a year at the beginning of the contract period during the life of the union contract would get $118,364.58. A person represented by UPTE in the RX (Research Workers) unit with the same base salary, receiving the full UPTE raises, minus union dues or fees would have received $117,676.60 net pay during the same time frame.

You can calculate your UPTE fees by multiplying your monthly pay by 1.15% during 2004, 2005 and 2006, then by 1.3% for 2007 and 2008. The maximum payment for 2004, 2005 and 2006 was $35, raised to $40 for 2007 and further raised to $45 for 2008.

If you want to continue to get back money every year from UPTE or would like to join more than 1,000 people who, during the current objection period, have received back money from UPTE, please fill out and return the objection letter now. It is quite a task for me and my friends to enter these in our database, make copies and give our process server enough time to check them and legally serve them upon UPTE. You are not eligible for a refund if you are a union member, only those people who are represented by UPTE but are not members are eligible. To find out your status look at the deduction on your paycheck. If it says UPTE DUES you are a member and if you are, you can quit and then you can get a refund.

UPTE normally sends out checks roughly every three months during their fiscal year. Our grand total of donations and gifts for this year is $83.80, not exactly a king's ransom. I would like to send every UPTE represented non member an objection letter along with a self enclosed stamped envelope. At about $1 per letter, this would cost about $5,600. I can't personally afford this but I will send 1,000 of these, your donations will help me send more. If you would be kind enough to send our organization the amount that you receive from one of these four checks, it would be greatly appreciated.

UC has given employees a choice to participate in a wellness program. You can choose to enroll in this program, receive the benefits of a wellness program or you can ignore this, it is a completely voluntary program. However, UPTE and most, if not all UC unions, have barred any of their represented employees from participating. What ever happened to freedom of choice? UPTE's arguments are on the web site http://www.upte.org/ebulletins/ebulletins.htm. Their argument seems to be based on what may happen. The union cries out that social security numbers have been given out without permission, but they provide no proof of this. This is quite hypocritical given the fact that UPTE states in its yearly Hudson notice that a social security number must be provided. If I were to play the UPTE game, I will tell you that there is no guarantee that UPTE will not sell your social security number to third parties. To me, the UPTE propaganda on this is nothing more than innuendo, it is all about what might happen at UC without any proof whatsoever. You can read UC's counterarguments on the web site http://www.ucop.edu/atyourservice/news/health/08staywell_facts.pdf. You can decide who is more honest on this issue for yourself.

UPTE sent another payment to objectors for the 2007/2008 period in January covering the months January thru March 2008. The check was for $14.40 but should have been $16.20 for this three month period for those like me whose fees have been raised from $40 per month to $45 per month. UPTE's agency fee administrator assured me that this oversight will be corrected by mid March. If you did file an objection letter for the 2007/2008 period and have not received full payment, let me know and I'll do my best to ensure that you are fully compensated.

Again, I thank all of you who have supported our organization over the years. We have crossed many hills, have a large mountain to climb and the journey to the top is not yet finished.

Werner