Communications, Marketing, and Sales Professionals Union Election-We Won!
Communications, Marketing, and Sales professionals (ComMaS) across UC voted overwhelmingly to form a union to have a stronger voice in the workplace! The Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) certified our majority on March 11th. In total, a supermajority of us (67.3% of our unit) voted in this election and 82.4% voted pro-union!
Now that PERB has officially certified our union, we’ll begin negotiating our first contract on May 5, 2026. Our strong turnout in the election shows that we’re united in working for a fair deal that values our contributions to UC. If you haven’t already, fill out the bargaining survey and share it with your colleagues so that our bargaining team can develop proposals that reflect the needs of ComMaS. Fill out the bargaining survey here!
ComMaS are not the first staff at UC to form a union with UAW. We’re going to the negotiating table with the momentum of 60,000 UC-UAW workers, including Research and Public Service Professionals (RPSPs), Student Services and Advising Professionals (SSAPs), Academic Student Employees (ASEs), Postdocs, and Academic Researchers. In particular, our staff colleagues just this year made significant progress on many issues that matter to us as ComMaS. From the results of our bargaining survey, our top 5 priorities are identical to our staff union siblings. Take a look below at the progress UAW staff have made so far.
While negotiations are underway for a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between ComMaS-UAW and the UC, the UC must negotiate and reach an agreement with ComMaS before making changes to our working conditions. Doing otherwise would be a “unilateral change” and a violation of “Dynamic Status Quo.”
If you are experiencing what you believe to be a unilateral change to your working conditions or any other workplace issue, please fill out this form and a coworker at your campus will be in touch.
What has our movement of UC-UAW staff already won?
Our unionized colleagues at UC are already making tremendous strides, raising standards in the workplace while successfully advocating to stop cuts and expand the streams of funding our jobs depend on. By unionizing with UAW, ComMaS joined 60,000 other UC-UAW employees, including 12,000 professional staff from the newly formed RPSP-UAW and SSAP-UAW units who just ratified a contract that immediately and dramatically improved working conditions for staff at UC. The contract includes:
Wages and compensation: At least 27.8% wage increase over 4 years + possible additional raises through the creation of a step wage system based on years of service.
Pathway to career advancement: Fair and enforceable process for reclassifications. All employees are entitled to a clear job description and timely reviews for promotion as responsibilities increase.
Job security: Increased notice for layoffs and 1 week of severance per year worked (up to 16 weeks) or preferential rehire/recall. Automatic conversation of all contract employees to career appointments.
Benefits: Annual caps on healthcare premium increases and monthly subsidies on employee contributions. All current retirement options enshrined in a contract.
Remote/hybrid work: Fair stands for maintaining flexible work arrangements, and right to request a new agreement or appeal modifications. Enforceable protections against arbitrary, discriminatory, or inconsistent decisions for the first time for staff at UC.
You can learn more about what 12,000 of our colleagues won at the bargaining table here.
2026 Contract Action Team (CAT)
What is the Contract Action Team (CAT)?
To win these improvements, SSAPs and RPSPs built a large leadership network capable of mobilizing a majority of staff at UC to participate in taking collective action. Like these units, it is going to take all ~2,000 Communications, Marketing and Sales Professionals (ComMaS) working together to win a contract we deserve. In every department, building, and UC campus, ComMaS are preparing to take action to improve UC and our workplace rights by forming our own Contract Action Team (CAT). The role of the CAT is to build the strong participation needed to win a contract like our staff colleagues and by making sure our coworkers stay informed and engaged through every step of bargaining and beyond.
What do CATs do?
Members of the Contract Action Team commit to:
Publicly participate: be a visible union supporter, sign public petitions, etc.
Keep others informed: inform colleagues on the right and benefits won in the SSAP/RPSP union contract, answer questions and address concerns.
Engage coworkers: ComMaS participate in coming together to put pressure on UC through sign-on letters, rallies, and other forms of collective action—up to and including a strike if justified and necessary
Expand the CAT: identify coworkers who can do all of the above in their own school, department, center, or office suite.
Who are CATs and how do I join?
CAT members are a growing group of hundreds of workers across all 11 UC campuses and the job titles included under ComMaS-UAW. Anyone can become a part of the CAT and/or recommend a colleague they believe should be! Get started by signing up for a 45-minute training on the basics of bargaining and what comes next in the COMMAS-UAW contract campaign.
How are CATs organizing around the California Science Bond?
The California Science and Health Research Bond Act (SB 895) is a bill UAW members helped draft that would place a $23 billion bond measure for scientific research on the California ballot this November. As SB 895 begins to progress through the California legislature, now is the most critical time for UC employees to stand together and show mass support for the bill. SB 895 would help offset the University's operational costs and make it easier to protect UC jobs from budget cuts.
CATs are supporting the bond by talking with colleagues about signing onto the petition and turning out to the May 4th rally to deliver the petition supporting SB 895. The rally will be held in our state capitol with UAW president Shawn Fain and UC President James B. Milliken. If you are able to attend the rally in Sacramento, make sure to RSVP when you sign the petition in order to reserve your seat on the union buses being arranged from campus. And no matter where you are, invite your colleagues to sign the petition to help advance the #1 legislative priority shared by our union as well as UC leadership.
How We Got Here: Growing our Power as UC Professionals
This effort began when Communications, Marketing, and Sales professionals (ComMaS) at several UC campuses were inspired by many of our colleagues in research and student support began unionizing. In early 2025, ComMaS came together in an organizing committee with colleagues across the UC and began reaching out to others in our job titles to learn about shared issues and priorities. We also launched a climate survey to learn more about our colleagues’ experiences, which later led to a more in-depth bargaining survey (which you can take here!). In the fall of 2025, ComMaS organized town halls and signed hundreds of union authorization cards to qualify us for a union election.
In hundreds of conversations over the last few months, ComMaS have expressed enthusiasm for our jobs and appreciation for our colleagues. But we also see a strong need for a collective voice to increase equity and address urgent issues. Workloads are increasing. It never seems to be “a good time” for that overdue promotion. Flexible work arrangements are constantly being “reevaluated” or revoked. Pay is stagnating as cost-of-living skyrockets. And equity is nonexistent, with some of us enjoying far more generous and supportive working conditions than others regardless of merit or experience.
Forming a union will prevent unilateral, arbitrary changes to the things we currently enjoy about our jobs and also empower us to fight for much-needed improvements for all ComMaS.