About 36,000 of the university's lower-paid employees -- those receiving less than $40,000 annually, but not including students -- are in line for special pay raises.

A news release from the Office of the President states that the raises recognize "the impact of California's high cost of living on employees, especially lower-paid staff," and are part of UC's "ongoing efforts to provide competitive total compensation for all university employees."

The $7.8 million worth of raises are in addition to those already handed out or which the university expects to hand out under collective bargaining agreements.

Among the workers who are eligible for the special raises are some 4,000 employees who do not have union representation, and their raises were due to appear on April 1 paychecks.

Raises for the other 32,000 eligible employees are subject to union consent. The university announced that it already had reached agreement with about one-third of those workers; the $2.7 million deal is with the Coalition of University Employees, or CUE, representing about 11,800 clerical staff who are eligible for the special pay raises.

Before the raises, the weighted average salary for these CUE employees was $34,017 a year, according to the Office of the President. Under the agreement, these workers were due to receive the following raises on April 1:

• 1.5 percent for employees in each title with an average annual salary of less than $30,000.
• 1 percent for employees in each title with an average annual salary of more than $30,000 but less than $32,000.
• 0.75 percent for employees in each title with an average annual salary of more than $32,000 but less than $40,000.

University officials said they are proposing similar increases for lower-paid service and patient care technical employees represented by the American Federation of Federal, State and County Employees, and technical and research support professional employees represented by University Professional and Technical Employees.

For nonrepresented employees, the university an-nounced that each worker's raise is based on his or her existing annual salary as follows:

• 2 percent for employees earning less than $30,000.
• 1 percent for employees earning more than $30,000 but less than $35,000.
• 0.5 percent for employees earning more than $35,000 but less than $40,000.

University officials said the special raises apply to employees at each UC campus and medical center except for student academic employees, interns and residents, nonstudents in student academic titles and postdoctoral scholars. An alternative proposal for salary increases for postdoctoral scholars is pending.