We write to follow up on our message to you of October 31, 2023, in which the Council of UC Faculty Associations raised the alarm regarding the sudden, drastic increase in healthcare benefits costs to employees during Open Enrollment. 1600 faculty signed onto CUCFA’s October 30 letter protesting these increases, while an additional 400 faculty gave wrenching testimonials about the effects of these increases on their lives and livelihoods and ability to remain at UC.

Subsequently, CUCFA, along with UC-AFT, have produced a follow-up letter, addressed to UC’s Director of Labor Relations and copied to President Drake, which we have pasted below, and which can also be found HERE on the CUCFA website.

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On January 29th, the Council of UC Faculty Associations signed on to the following UC Union Coalition letter that was sent to UC. A PDF of the letter is also available.

Matt Teaford
Director of Labor Relations
University of California
matthew.teaford@ucop.edu

Dear Director Teaford,

In 2024, University of California workers across the state are facing healthcare premium increases of more than 20% in most cases. For some, these increases have nearly tripled their monthly costs. The UC Union Coalition, representing the majority of UC’s employees, wrote to UC President Michael Drake and the UC Regents to protest these drastic increases that were much steeper than ones from past years. Yet, employees had little time to plan, as UC notified employees of these significant increases only hours before open enrollment began.

The University of California Union Coalition demands that the University meet with UC union representatives before negotiating 2025 benefits for UC employees. Furthermore, the University must address what appears to be a conflict of interest in how it negotiated the 2024 rate increases with the providers in its own system. Given that two of the major plans available to UC employees are based on the UC hospital system and professional medical groups, UCOP should have invited a third party to participate in the negotiations over the plan cost increases.

Our previous communications to President Drake and the Regents about this matter have gone unanswered, which is unacceptable given the impact of these drastic and unanticipated increases on the people we represent. We look forward to and expect a prompt response from you.

In conclusion, we demand that UC stop unilaterally passing on these cost increases to employees. We demand union involvement in healthcare plan negotiations. We also require transparency regarding the negotiations between the University and its own health systems to prevent self-dealing.

Sincerely,
UCUC

cc: Members of the UC Board of Regents
UC President Michael Drake
Melissa Matella, Associate Vice President Employee & Labor Relations