AFSCME Local 3299 is a democratic union that is run by and for members who work at the University of California. The Executive Board is our highest decision-making body and is elected every three (3) years.

Notice is hereby given that AFSCME Local 3299 will be conducting nominations for, and if necessary, election of, the Executive Board. All matters concerning nominations and elections shall be subject to the provisions of Article VI of the AFSCME 3299 Constitution as well as Appendix D of the AFSCME International Constitution.

Nominations are open for the following positions:

Click here to view the full Nomination notice 

Click here to download ther Nomination Form: English | Español + 中文

What We Won Because Of Our Powerful Campaign:

LIVABLE WAGES:

• A $1,500 lump sum for all non-probationary career workers.
• Our $25/5% campaign moved UC in 2025: 5% and $25 minimum wage
• Annual Wage Increases (ATBs)/Equity Increases + Guaranteed Step: 

• • • April 2026: 6% + July 2026: 2% step increase 
    • April 2027: 5%  (includes 1% equity pool) + July 2027: 2% step increase
    • April 2028: 4% + July 2028: 2% step increase
    • April 2029: 4% + July 2029: 2% step increase

• 2% lump sum for those at top step each year
• Guaranteed annual Steps for all who are not topped out, including UCSF and UCLA Health.
• All titles now will have at least 8 steps.
• One-time $1,000 longevity payment in July: for those with20 years of service, including those who already received a one-time longevity payment under the last contract. Continues through the contract for anyone who reaches 20 years of service in 2027 to 2029.
• Minimum Wage: Increase the minimum wage for Step 1 to $25 in 2025, $26.50 in 2026, and reach $30.10 by April 2029.
• Shift differentials: increased to a $1.25 minimum
• Right to negotiate increases to on-call pay and shift differentials at each UC location

AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE:

• Most affordable healthcare rates within the UC system, with 7.5% caps for Kaiser and 5% caps for Blue & Gold, and the largest credits. Most workers will see the rate go down in 2027, and a $10 cap for the duration of the contract.
• 

JOB SECURITY

• Layoff protections include retraining instead of layoffs and continued pay during emergencies. 
• Maintaining prohibition on daily call-offs/”emergency layoffs.”
• Additional severance in the case of layoffs: One week of severance for each full year of service, with a minimum of 2 weeks to a maximum of 16 weeks.
  

SAFE STAFFING & DEVELOPMENT

• Added respiratory therapist ratios (Title 22) to the contract. 
• Protected our seniority Rights: stopped UC from disqualifying workers from transferring shift or location if they had 1) transferred in the last 12 months or 2) been disciplined in the last 6 months.
• Expanded rights to meal and rest periods—and pay when missed. 
• Expanded development leave rights: Paid development leave even on your days off; all 40 hours of development leave can be home/internet.
• Stopped UC’s attempt to create new “multi-location” appointments outside of an employee’s home campuses/medical centers (eg. UCLA to UCSD) to cover staffing shortages.
  
• Expanded per diem conversion rights (Service same as PCT)
• Expanded enforcement of development leave (Service same as PCT)

OTHER KEY VICTORIES:

• Added an additional floating personal day.
• Premium pay for MLK Holiday and December 24th
• Secured new leaves for childcaring and victims/survivors of violence. 
• Caps on parking rate increases are maintained at $10 or 10%.
• Per diems receive 16 hours of sick leave per year, and leave can be carried over up to workers having a max of 24 hours accrued.
• UC must respond to vacation requests in a timely way, and must facilitate alternative dates if vacation requests are not approved.
  

Term of Agreement: Expires on November 30, 2029.

CONTACT: Todd Stenhouse, 916-397-1131 (mobile), toddstenhouse@gmail.com 

STRIKE CANCELLED:  AFSCME Local 3299 Cancels Statewide UC Strike After 11th Hour Bargaining Produces Historic Tentative Contract Agreement

Oakland:  AFSCME 3299, which represents more than 42,000 University of California Service and Patient Care workers, has announced that the open-ended strike that was to begin at all UC facilities on Thursday, May 14th has been cancelled after the union reached a tentative agreement with University negotiators after around the clock bargaining this week.  The agreement was reached late tonight, and union members will vote on ratification May 19th-21st. 

AFSCME Local 3299 President Michael Avant issued the following statement:

“For nearly three years, the frontline workers that we represent have stood shoulder to shoulder, demanding the university take meaningful action to address the affordability crisis pricing them out of the communities where they work, and forcing impossible choices on their families.  Tonight we have reached a tentative agreement with the University that makes historic progress and delivers long-overdue security to the frontline service and patient care professionals who make UC run.

Under the terms agreed upon tonight, the lowest paid workers in the UC system will have won their largest wage increase ever and the most affordable healthcare rates at UC, alongside strong staffing and workplace safety protections.  It means UC’s most vulnerable workers will no longer have to choose between paying for healthcare and paying for groceries.

This process took persistence and involved great sacrifices by every single one of our members.  The tentative agreements we’ve reached ensure they will be better off, and better able to keep pace with rising costs so they can build a better future for their families.   

To be clear, our members should never have had to endure two years without a contract.  United behind core principles like fairness and dignity, they stood together, spoke truth to power, and showed that solidarity isn’t just the best antidote to injustice.  It is a rising tide that can lift all boats. 

Tomorrow, 42,000 UC Service and Patient Care Technical workers will not be on strike.  They will be back at work, doing what they love—serving UC patients and students.   And we will be urging our members to vote YES on ratifying this new agreement.”  

 ###

After over two years of fighting UC and refusing to give up, our team reached a tentative agreement with UC, setting the highest standards at UC. Our campaign forced UC to invest in the long-term security of its frontline workers.

Our Bargaining Team unanimously recommends a YES vote.

What We Won Because Of Our Powerful Campaign

LIVABLE WAGES:

• A $1,500 lump sum for all non-probationary career workers.
• Our $25/5% campaign moved UC in 2025: 5% and $25 minimum wage
• Annual Wage Increases (ATBs)/Equity Increases + Guaranteed Step: 

• • • April 2026: 6% + July 2026: 2% step increase 
    • April 2027: 5% + (includes 1% equity pool) + July 2027: 2% step increase
    • April 2028: 4% + July 2028: 2% step increase
    • April 2029: 4% + July 2029: 2% step increase

• 2% lump sum for those at top step each year
• Guaranteed annual Steps for all who are not topped out, including UCSF and UCLA Health.
• All titles now will have at least 8 steps.
• One-time $1,000 longevity payment in July: for those with20 years of service, including those who already received a one-time longevity payment under the last contract. Continues through the contract for anyone who reaches 20 years of service in 2027 to 2029.
• Minimum Wage: Increase the minimum wage for Step 1 to $25 in 2025, $26.50 in 2026, and reach $30.10 by April 2029.
• Shift differentials: increased to a $1.25 minimum
• Right to negotiate increases to on-call pay and shift differentials at each UC location

AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE:

• Most affordable healthcare rates within the UC system, with 7.5% caps for Kaiser and 5% caps for Blue & Gold, and the largest credits. Most workers will see the rate go down in 2027, and a $10 cap for the duration of the contract.
• 

JOB SECURITY

• Layoff protections include retraining instead of layoffs and continued pay during emergencies. 
• Maintaining prohibition on daily call-offs/”emergency layoffs.”
• Additional severance in the case of layoffs: One week of severance for each full year of service, with a minimum of 2 weeks to a maximum of 16 weeks.
  

SAFE STAFFING & DEVELOPMENT

• Added respiratory therapist ratios (Title 22) to the contract. 
• Protected our seniority Rights: stopped UC from disqualifying workers from transferring shift or location if they had 1) transferred in the last 12 months or 2) been disciplined in the last 6 months.
• Expanded rights to meal and rest periods—and pay when missed. 
• Expanded development leave rights: Paid development leave even on your days off; all 40 hours of development leave can be home/internet.
• Stopped UC’s attempt to create new “multi-location” appointments outside of an employee’s home campuses/medical centers (eg. UCLA to UCSD) to cover staffing shortages.
  
• Expanded per diem conversion rights (Service same as PCT)
• Expanded enforcement of development leave (Service same as PCT)

OTHER KEY VICTORIES:

• Added an additional floating personal day.
• Premium pay for MLK Holiday and December 24th
• Secured new leaves for childcaring and victims/survivors of violence. 
• Caps on parking rate increases are maintained at $10 or 10%.
• Per diems receive 16 hours of sick leave per year, and leave can be carried over up to workers having a max of 24 hours accrued.
• UC must respond to vacation requests in a timely way, and must facilitate alternative dates if vacation requests are not approved.
  

Term of Agreement: Expires on November 30, 2029.

VOTE YES!
MAY 19- 21

We also celebrate another historic outcome of our campaign — we successfully gathered 1.3 million signatures to put our housing benefits proposal on the ballot. California voters can support down payment loans for UC frontline workers, helping our members be one step closer to homeownership and housing security.

UC workers deserve better than second-class treatment from UC. UC continues to break the law, making it impossible for workers to get the contract that they deserve.

We have filed two Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs) against UC

• over their unlawful imposition of healthcare increases and other unlawful terms, and
• Their refusal to bargain over our housing benefits, and UC still hasn’t made things right.

Our ULP committee says ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

We are ready to Strike UNTIL WE WIN!

View our press conference here.

Our strike is legal, and the Labor Board has ruled that virtually all service and patient care workers can go on strike. A small number of employees will report to work, and some workers will be required to be on call to take care of patients.

Come back closer to the strike date or check your email to see if you’re on the lists:

• Required to Work | If your name is on this list, you must report to work for a full shift. UC cannot mandate you to work more than your required shift.

• Required to be on call | If your name is on the list, you can still join the picket line, but you must be ready to report to work if you are called in

• If your name is not on the list, WE WILL SEE YOU ON THE STRIKE LINE!

Stand with us!
Starting May 14th until we win!

Join us at a picket line near you.

If you’re UCI — Los Alamitos, Lakewood, Placentia, and Fountain Valley, report to the UCI Med Center location.  UCI Campus location is only available for May 14-15. Starting Monday, May 18th, all join UCI Douglas Med Center.

If you’re UCSF – St. Francis, Parnassus, St. Mary’s, or BCHO, please join UCSF Mission Bay or UCB.

If you’re at UCSD —  East Campus, La Jolla, or Campus, please join the UCSD Hillcrest location.

If you’re UCLA — West Hills, SMH, or Campus please join the UCLA Ronald Regan Med Center location.

If you’re UCD campus — please join the UCD Med Center location.

Click here to view our FAQ:  English  | Español | 中文 | ລາວ | Tagalog 

If you have more questions not answered by the FAQ, please contact: info@afscme3299.org

Use this form to document any illegal tactics by UC:  English + Español | Tagalog + 中文

CONTACT: Todd Stenhouse, 916-397-1131, toddstenhouse@gmail.com   

New Report Suggests University of California’s Claims of Financial Distress were Unfounded

While imposing a hiring freeze, layoffs and a tuition hike, UC accrued billions in surplus funds & gave massive raises to executives

CALIFORNIA:  A new analysis of the University of California’s financial statements, payroll records, UC policies, acquisitions and investment assets shows that the University is likely in the strongest financial position in its 150-year history, and calls into question the claims of financial distress university leaders made last year to justify a system-wide hiring freeze, layoffs, and its latest round of tuition hikes.

Read the Policy Brief, “Assessing & Understanding the Strength of University of California’s Financial Position.”

The report details significant growth in UC’s revenue streams and assets over the past decade. During this period, the system’s annual investment income, state appropriations, cash reserves (most of which are unrestricted), and private donations all nearly doubled, while its Medical Center Revenues nearly tripled.  UC acquired eight new hospitals since 2023, and completed 150 new capital projects last year alone.  In fiscal year 2025—as the University imposed hiring freezes and layoffs on its frontline workers and a new round of tuition hikes on students—it reported $5.5 billion in surplus revenue and erased $2.5 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.

“The complex and expansive nature of the University of California often results in an opaque and incomplete understanding of the system’s overall financial health,” said AFSCME 3299 Research Director Claudia Preparata.  “This policy brief provides a comprehensive independent analysis of the University’s overall financial performance aimed at helping the public and policymakers hold UC accountable to its core public mission, and to assess the credibility of financial claims that are often used to justify cutbacks that hit low wage workers and students the hardest.”

Alongside the doubling of UC revenues over the last decade, the average salaries of UC’s highest paid Chancellors, Medical Center CEOs and other executives have also doubled, from an average of $540,000 per year to more than $1.2 million per year.  Many of these same high paid employees are able to access other benefits, including sub-market rate loans to purchase primary or secondary homes.

While the University and its highest paid personnel are doing better than ever, the report shows how students and the system’s frontline workers are not. The university’s frontline patient care and service workforce—more than 40,000 full time employees who have been working without a contract for more than a year—have seen their real wages drop by up to 6% since 2017.  News reports have detailed how these essential workers face a growing housing and affordability crisis.  For students, tuition is up by as much as 53% over the last ten years, with recent UC expansions only increasing the number of students without access to guaranteed housing.   Last year, UC surveys also showed 48% of its undergraduates experiencing food insecurity—the highest share ever reported.

“The University of California has all the resources it needs to address the affordability crisis plaguing its frontline workers and students,” said AFSCME Local 3299 Executive Director Liz Perlman. “UC’s failure to act reflects a lack of respect and morality, not a lack of money.”

Our Bargaining team has called for a statewide strike! Enough is enough. We’re tired of UC’s disrespect at the table.

We are fighting for:

• Livable wages that attract and retain staff;
• Affordable healthcare; 
• Housing benefits that high earners already receive;
• Safe staffing to properly care for and serve our patients and students. 

We’re striking because UC has failed to address the unaffordability of life. And we’re not alone. Our union siblings at UPTE-CWA will also mount a statewide strike, and the nurses, CNA, will be joining us in solidarity! 

“I’m worried that more UC workers are going to end up homeless if something doesn’t change. I work 11-hour days, but even I’m behind on my rent and can’t afford the copays to see my doctor. It shouldn’t be this hard to survive.” — Ruth Zolayvar, Pharmacy Tech, UCSD

Meanwhile, UC gives out raises and housing benefits to a bloated layer of top administrators at the expense of its lowest-paid workers. This inequality must end.  Together is how we win! 

Our strike is legal, and the Labor Board has ruled that virtually all service and patient care workers can go on strike. A small number of employees will report to work, and some workers will be required to be on call to take care of patients.

Click the link to see if your name is on them:

• Required to Work | If your name is on this list, you must report to work for a full shift. UC cannot mandate you to work more than your required shift.

• Required to be on call | If your name is on the list, you can still join the picket line, but you must be ready to report to work if you are called in

• If your name is not on the list, WE WILL SEE YOU ON THE STRIKE LINE!

Stand with us!
Join us at a picket line near you.
7 AM – 4 PM

If you’re UCI — Los Alamitos, Lakewood, Placentia, and Fountain Valley, report to the UCI Med Center location.

If you’re UCSF – St. Francis, or St. Mary’s, please report to the closest UCSF location. Don’t want to cross the bridge? That’s ok, please report to the UCB line instead or whatever is closest to your home address.

If you’re UCSD —  East Campus, please report to the closest UCSD location.

If you’re UCLA — West Hills, report to the UCLA Ronald Regan Hospital location.

Click here to view our FAQ:  English  | Español | 中文 | ລາວ | Tagalog 

If you have more questions not answered by the FAQ, please contact: info@afscme3299.org

Use this form to document any illegal tactics by UC:  English + Español | Tagalog + 中文

CONTACT: Todd Stenhouse, toddstenhouse@gmail.com

86,000 University of California Campus and Health Center Workers will Strike Statewide on Nov. 17^th and 18th

 40K AFSCME Local 3299 Represented Service and Patient Care Workers, 21k Research Technical workers represented by UPTE-CWA are walking off job over contract dispute, 25K UC Nurses to Join in Solidarity

CALIFORNIA: More than 65,000 University of California Campus and Health Center employees will mount a two-day strike on November 17^th and 18^th over the University’s failure to settle contracts addressing the cost of living and affordability crises facing the University’s most economically vulnerable workers.

AFSCME Local 3299, which represents more than 40,000 UC Service and Patient Care Technical workers, and UPTE-CWA, which represents 21,000 healthcare, research, and technical professionals, are leading the action, with 25,000 UC Nurses represented by the California Nurses Association joining in solidarity. 

Representing custodians, food service workers, patient care assistants and hospital technicians who have been working without a contract for more than a year, AFSCME Local 3299 has detailed a growing affordability crisis facing UC service and patient care workers.  Its members have been priced out of local housing markets by wage rates that have failed to keep pace with inflation, leading thousands to leave their jobs and fueling growing staff vacancy crisis at UC.

“During nearly two years of bargaining, UC has spent billions of dollars acquiring new facilities, lavishing exorbitant raises on its wealthiest executives and funding housing assistance programs to help these same ivory tower elites buy mansions or second homes—but it won’t offer its frontline workers enough to pay the rent or keep pace with the skyrocketing cost of groceries,” said AFSCME Local 3299 President Michael Avant.  “Our members have had enough of UC’s serial elitism, tone deafness and blatant disrespect for the workers who make this institution run, and that’s why they will strike at every UC campus and Medical Center on November 17^th and 18^th.

Research has detailed a decline in real wages of nearly 10% and a growing housing affordability crisis plaguing the university’s frontline health and service workforce that has left thousands of UC employees to endure multi-hour commutes, sleep in their cars or rely on limited government housing subsidies.  The weight of short staffing and uncompetitive job quality has led more than 13,000 UC service and patient care technical workers—or more than a third of this vital workforce segment–to voluntarily leave their jobs in the past three years.

“During the pandemic, UC administrators routinely called us ‘essential heroes,’” added Avant.  “We were the ones sanitizing facilities to slow the spread, answering the call button, and giving sick patients their breathing treatments.  Today, we’re being excluded from housing assistance that UC gives to its wealthiest employees; being told to accept wages that offer less purchasing power than we had seven or eight years ago, and being told that we should pay twice as much for our health insurance.  It’s time for UC to get its priorities straight, and to treat us with the respect we’ve earned.”   

Though UC is responsible for creating staffing contingencies to support its operations during this legally protected strike activity, AFSCME Local 3299 has voluntarily exempted a small number of critical care workers from strike participation and created a patient protection task force—a line of communication with UC hospitals–that will enable certain striking workers to support emergencies during the work stoppage if UC’s contingency plans are insufficient to meet patient needs.

AFSCME Local 3299 picket times and locations for its affordability strike, at which UC Nurses will strike in solidarity, and UPTE-CWA will also be on strike, can be found here.

###

Having worked with many of these folks for years, my first thoughts were of worry for them and their families. As the news sank in, however, I couldn’t get another worry out of my head:

What does this mean for my healthcare?

After suffering a life-altering car accident back in March, I did what so many San Diegans do. I turned to UCSD Health for treatment.

For me, the decision was a no-brainer. I’ve lived in Hillcrest for 15 years and worked at Hillcrest Medical Center as a Respiratory Therapist for 6 years. I love my job and working with neighbors who rely on UCSD Health to care for themselves and their loved ones. I love my coworkers, who put their all into giving the top-quality care that has earned UCSD Health numerous accolades.

I have seen the way my colleagues push themselves to give our patients the best, often to the detriment of our own health. We show up and give our all every single day. In return, UCSD Health has shown they consider us expendable.

I didn’t lose my job during these layoffs, but I did lose nearly every appointment I had lined up as a patient.

Months-long scheduling delays might not seem like a big deal to those on top. Having received a 57% raise over the past three years, CEO Patty Maysent makes more than enough to hire an out-of-network specialist for any pressing health concerns.

But most of us can’t afford expensive specialists. While preventative care is the ideal, many of us can only afford to access care when we absolutely need it. Delays are more than just a scheduling inconvenience: without timely treatment, patient health outcomes can decline significantly. For me, my pain has become increasingly hard to manage, keeping me from getting back to the work I love.

Even before the layoffs, our system was already overburdened and understaffed. We cannot meet the current demand for patient care. An E.R. patient already sees us on one of the worst days of their life. When we’re at capacity, the E.R. fills up rapidly, and patients can be stranded in hospital hallways awaiting care.

In my department, this has meant each worker often has to handle the workload of two, many times with limited help and resources. These practices are still the norm here, and yet their solution is to cut 240 additional frontline workers. It isn’t just reckless; it was also done illegally. By law, UCSD Health is required to give advance notice and work with its unions to find alternative solutions to layoffs and mitigate their effects. They did not do any of this.

UCSD Health says these cuts are due to budget pressures, but we know better. Financial data presented to the UC Board of Regents show that UCSD health’s profits are expected to double over the next decade. Hospital Executives split $1.4M in incentive bonuses this year, while the average laid-off worker made an annual salary of just $66K. UCSD also spent $200 million buying a new hospital and is currently negotiating with another health system to purchase two more hospitals in the coming months, apparently without consideration for who will staff them.

The bottom line is that proper staffing should not be secondary priorities for any healthcare system. Patient care must always be at the heart of what we do, across every level. At UCSD, that means hiring these essential healthcare workers back and keeping safe staffing levels across every department.

The good news is, we as patients have the power to speak up. We have the power to demand better for ourselves, our community, and those who work tirelessly to keep us healthy.

And we must.

Bianca Brown has worked as a Respiratory Therapist for six years at UCSD Hillcrest. She has lived in the neighborhood for the past 15 years. She is a Member Action Team leader at the union that represents her and the impacted workers, AFSCME 3299.