UC Raises Wages of Lower-Paid Employees

The University of California system announced on June 27 that it has reached a deal with the University Professional and Technical Employees union to raise the salaries of lower-paid employees, an article in Monday’s Daily Californian reported.

The agreement, which retroactively takes effect on April 1, 2007, covers approximately 5,000 UC-system employees, including animal technicians, lab assistants and some research employees, the reporter Alina Xu wrote:

The university will grant a 1.95 percent wage increase for employees earning $34,500 or less a year, a 0.95 percent increase to employees earning $34,501 to $35,500 a year, and a 0.5 percent increase to employees earning $35,500 to $39,999 a year.
The cost to the university is about $1.2 million, which comes out of annual funding from the state for operating costs, said UC spokesperson Paul Schwartz.

Workers represented by the union are also due to receive a pay raise of 3.2 to 3.8 percent in October, and a 2-percent step increase in January, Dominic Chan, the director of the union, told Xu.