The University of California has ratified a tentative agreement with the University Professional and Technical Employees union, UPTE-CWA 9119, and registered nurses have also approved a separate contract with the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, marking a significant shift in labor relations and workplace conditions across the UC system.
As of Thursday, Nov. 20, 98 percent of UPTE members voted to approve their new contract, which aims to address delayed access to healthcare, stalled public interest research and the impact understaffing has on student services and support.
Meanwhile, registered nurses ratified a new four-year contract covering 25,000 RNs at 19 UC facilities, with voting concluding Saturday, Nov. 22, according to California Nurses Association/National Nurses United. The nurses’ agreement includes protections to improve patient safety, workplace conditions and nurse retention, and union leaders emphasized that there were no takeaways in the final deal.
Dan Russell, UPTE president and IT professional, said, “We are very pleased to be taking this step forward after more than a year of negotiations. We hope this sets the tone for a settlement with our colleagues in AFSCME [American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees] 3299. We continue to stand with them as they fight and strike for strong and fair agreements.” He also said, “This agreement reflects the collective strength of workers organizing to hold UC accountable to its mission as a world-class research, educational, and healthcare institution.”
UC workers had raised alarms about understaffing at hospitals, laboratories and campuses, according to UPTE. With extended wait times and staffing shortages in hospitals and clinics, union members advocated for improvements affecting both patient safety and employee well-being. UPTE also referenced a report released in April 2025 showing that “wait times, average length of stay, and other key metrics have been steadily increasing as staff turnover numbers increase.”
The new UPTE contract includes higher wages, affordable healthcare premiums, expanded parental leave and increased layoff protections. UPTE stated that these improvements also include recall and rehire rights and are expected to benefit not only workers but also the students and patients they serve.
In the parallel nurses’ contract, union members secured key guarantees including limits on floating RNs between facilities, disaster preparedness requirements and protections ensuring nurses’ central role in evaluating and implementing new technology, including artificial intelligence systems. The contract also includes retention measures such as workplace violence prevention policies, improved meal and break structures and an 18.5 percent minimum wage increase over the life of the agreement, along with caps on healthcare cost increases.
“UC nurses were unified in our demands for a contract that reversed and halted UC management’s growing practice of short-staffing facilities, cutting back on resources, and forcing RNs to do more with less support,” said Marlene Tucay, RN at UC Irvine and member of the bargaining team. “As a result of the commitment of all CNA members, we won a contract that will improve outcomes for nurses and our patients.” She added, “Our work continues to fight for the highest levels of patient care — that includes holding UC accountable to the standards agreed to in our new contract. It is our union power that will help ensure the UC stays a public good, rather than yet another for-profit health care corporation.”
The CNA contract covers Nov. 1, 2025, through Jan. 31, 2029.
Frontline workers expressed hope that the combined agreements will strengthen conditions for UC’s students, patients and workforce. UCLA nurse case manager Jeanna Harris said she has “a bird’s eye view of the paths that patients take through their care journey at our hospital. What I see every day is delays in admission resulting in our emergency departments overflowing into hallways or parking lots, unnecessary delays in discharge because we are always covering more due to short staffing, and that could put patients at risk of avoidable hospital-acquired infections and avoidable insurance denials.” UPTE said experiences like Harris’ played a significant role in shaping negotiations.
With enrollment rising across UC campuses, the agreements are also expected to improve student access to mental and behavioral health services. UC Santa Cruz behavioral health counselor Amelia Cutten said, “Being able to recruit and retain clinicians means being able to provide better and more timely support to help our students. This agreement marks another step in the right direction.”
Union leaders say the back-to-back approvals signal momentum for labor organizing across the UC system. UPTE’s agreement provides sustainable benefits and wages that improve workers’ lives now, and supporters say the outcome reflects the power of collective action at one of the nation’s leading public research university systems.
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