UC Affirms Commitment to Nurses with 27% Pay Raise Amid Financial Pressures and Uncertainty

Demonstrating its commitment to recognizing the tremendous value of nurses within the University of California Health system, UC has offered the California Nurses Association 21 contract proposals over two days of bargaining on October 1 and 2, including wage increases of 27% over the proposed five-year contract. 

If accepted by the union, the proposal would include a 7% wage increase for eligible employees in the first year of the contract, achieved through a combination of base building increases, step increases, and a one-time lump-sum payment. For the remainder of the five-year agreement, career nurses would receive a 5% annual increase, which would be implemented through a combination of base building increases, step increases, and a one-time lump-sum payment. 

The UC wage proposal is worth $1.1 billion. This substantial investment comes at a time when UC’s academic health centers are navigating significant financial strain, with rising labor costs, supply price inflation and billions of dollars in uncompensated care for Medi-Cal and Medicare patients. In fact, labor costs at academic health centers have increased by 22% compared to last year, surpassing the growth in patient care revenue. The strain is exacerbated by the rising demand for complex care among publicly insured patients, as reimbursement rates often fail to cover the actual costs of care. 

Beyond academic health centers, the UC system is facing a serious federal funding crisis that has already led to the cancellation of key grants and threatens to cut billions more for research, healthcare, and student aid, putting campuses, patients, and communities at risk. Even with these challenges and significant uncertainty, UC remains committed to bargaining in good faith and ensuring nurses receive competitive pay, reflecting our resolve to support nurses in the face of unprecedented financial and political pressures.

The compensation proposal was just one of many proposals UC offered to CNA throughout two days of bargaining. Additional proposals made by the University include articles on job posting, hours of work, health and safety, holidays, corrective action/discipline and dismissal, grievance procedures, association rights, release time for bargaining, staffing, benefits,  positions, per diem, new technology and professional practice committees. A side letter on joint labor-management meetings was also proposed by the University.

This wide range of proposals, especially at this early stage of the process, reaffirms UC’s commitment to good faith bargaining, achieving a new contract and supporting patient care and the needs of our nurses.