UC, AFSCME reach agreement on wages, benefits

The UC Office of the President announced today (Oct. 10) that members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees had ratified contracts covering more than 20,000 employees at UC campuses and medical centers.

UC and AFSCME reached tentative agreement on the contracts on Sept. 22, and union members voted Oct. 5-7 in favor of ratification, according to a UCOP news release.

The negotiations had been limited to a select number of subjects, with key topics including wages, health care benefits and retirement plan contributions.

“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with AFSCME,” said Dwaine Duckett, vice president of Human Resources. “Moving forward we hope we can find ways for UC and the union to work together on issues that are of mutual interest.”

Employees covered under the contracts include patient care staff, such as hospital assistants and hospital laboratory technicians, and service workers, such as custodians and mail processors.

The patient care technical employees contract expires Sept. 30, 2012, while the service employees contract expires Jan. 31, 2013.

The news release gave these contract highlights:

Wages

• Patient care employees will receive a 3 percent wage increase for the 2010-11 year, effective Nov. 1, 2011, with a lump-sum payment representing the increase back to January 2011; and a 3 percent increase for the 2011-12 year, effective Jan. 1, 2012.
• Service employees will receive a 3 percent wage increase for the 2010-11 year, effective Nov. 1, 2011, with a lump-sum payment representing the increase back to Oct. 1, 2011; and a 3 percent increase for 2011-12, effective Oct. 1, 2012.
• Scheduled step increases will be given to eligible patient care and service employees on July 1, 2012. In addition, eligible service workers will receive scheduled step increases on July 1, 2013.
• The minimum salary for service employees will be $13.70 an hour starting Nov. 1, 2011, and $14.42 an hour starting Oct. 1, 2012.

Health care benefits

• Employees will continue to receive the same benefits and pay the same rates as the general UC employee population. The AFSCME contracts specify 2011 rates for Health Net coverage effective Oct. 1, 2011, and 2012 rates for all plans in 2012.

Pension benefits

• Employees will contribute to the UC Retirement Plan at the same rate as the general UC employee population. Contributions will be 3.5 percent of pay retroactive to July 1, 2011, and 5 percent of pay starting July 1, 2012.

UCOP announces labor deals with lecturers, librarians

The UC Office of the President this week announced tentative labor agreements with two bargaining units of the American Federation of Teachers union, one representing more than 3,000 lecturers and the other more than 350 librarians.

Under the agreements, each bargaining unit would participate in a one-time (2011-12) salary increase program for nonrepresented faculty and staff — a program that is based on individual performance. The merit increases for the lecturers and librarians would be effective Oct. 1.

Additionally, the lecturers would participate in the annual academic merit program for 2012-13 and 2013-14, and the librarians would participate in the academic merit program for 2011-12.

The university expects to receive the results of the union’s ratification vote by mid-October.

More information on the lecturers deal and the librarians deal.

Bike auction set for Saturday

The Bicycle Program is having a garage sale this weekend — with nothing but bikes, more than 400 of them: cruisers, mountain, road, BMX, even some children’s bikes. Most of them are fixer-uppers, and most are expected to sell for between $30 and $40.

The bikes, for the most part, ended up with the Bicycle Program after being abandoned on campus and not claimed. Auctions are held twice a year, in the fall and spring, in the west entry parking garage off Hutchison Drive just east of La Rue Road. Admission is free and open to the public.

The fall sale is scheduled for Saturday (Oct. 8), with viewing of the bikes from 8 to 9 a.m. and the sale from 9 a.m. until all bikes are put up for bid, probably around 2 p.m. The Bicycle Program accepts payment by cash, check or major credit card.

CAES College Celebration

The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences next week celebrates another bountiful harvest of scientific achievement — and the people who make it happen, in fields and labs, and behind the scenes.

The 23rd annual College Celebration is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 14, and will feature the presentation of 10 Awards of Distinction, honoring people whom Dean Neal Van Alfen described as “great ambassadors for our college.”

Click here for the awardees' names and biographies.

The celebration, open to the campus community and the general public, is set to begin with the awards program at 5:30 p.m., followed by a reception and farmers market from 6:30 to 8. The location is Freeborn Hall.

The farmers market begins as a display, packed with fresh California produce and grain products from commodity groups, college departments and other organizations. Then, at the end of the evening, people attending the celebration are invited to take home a bag full of food.

Tickets priced at $15 are available online and also will be sold at the door. For more information, contact Carrie Cloud, (530) 752-2120 or crcloud@ucdavis.edu.

Chancellor's Colloquium opens with the humanities

The first program in the 2011-12 Chancellor’s Colloquium Distinguished Speakers Series is set for Tuesday, Oct. 25, with Duke Professor Cathy Davidson, a member of the National Council on the Humanities, appointed to the post by President Obama in 2010.

The Davidson talk is set to begin at 4 p.m. in the Activities and Recreation Center Ballroom. Admission is free and open to the public; people planning to attend are asked to arrange reservations by calling Ceremonies and Special Events, (530) 754-2262.

Read more about Davidson and the rest of the Chancellor’s Colloquium series for 2011-12.

Vanderhoef back in the classroom

Chancellor Emeritus Larry Vanderhoef, who left the fifth floor of Mrak Hall in August 2009, is back in the classroom — this time as a teacher with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC Davis Extension.

“I have watched the OLLI program mature and grow over the past 10 years, and I couldn’t be prouder now standing in front of one of its classes — yet another great UC Davis Extension program," Vanderhoef said.

He is offering a two-part course, this week and next, "Biology: Issues in the News," which is based on the four-unit biology course that he taught last spring within the College of Biological Sciences and will reprise this spring. In addition, he is scheduled to teach an abbreviated version of the course at National Taiwan University next month, at that university’s invitation.

“We’re pleased and proud to be the vehicle for the chancellor’s return to yet another of his many contributions to UC Davis and the larger and smaller communities it serves,” said Romain Nelsen, an adviser with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

Vanderhoef’s course at the Osher institute is filled; however, the class is being videotaped for presentation on Davis Community TV, Channel 15, and for loan at the Davis branch of the Yolo County Library.

Vanderhoef, a distinguished professor emeritus, holds joint appointments in the departments of Plant Biology and Plant Sciences. He received his doctorate in plant biochemistry and physiology from Purdue University in 1969.

More information about the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

Meet your neighbors

Many communities across the nation hold Neighbors Night Out events in the summer. UC Davis, the ASUCD and the city of Davis work together on Davis Neighbors Night Out — and it doesn’t happen until after the new academic year has begun, thus giving students the opportunity to participate.

After all, the goal is to bring students and their neighbors together. “The event is an informal opportunity for neighborhoods to increase familiarity and communication among neighbors by way of a block party,” reads the Davis Neighbors Night Out website.

This year’s event, the sixth annual, is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 9 — at the beginning of homecoming week.

Read more.

Other upcoming events

• Safety Day on the Quad — 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 11.

• Dog ‘n’ Jog — For you and your pooch, or just you, to raise money for vector-borne disease control awareness. The fun run, Saturday, Oct. 15, is coordinated by the Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

• Horse Day: A Hands-On Approach to Equine Topics — 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 22 

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