Communications, Marketing and Sales specialists (ComMas-UAW) have been working together at the UC since early 2025 to start our own union with UAW, the largest union at the UC. Hundreds of us have signed cards in support of forming our union so far.

UPTE caught wind of our momentum and recently filed a petition with the state labor board to add two groups of our coworkers in ComMas-UAW to their existing union (without notifying anyone in those job titles). The two groups are the Broadcast Communication Specialists and Writer-Editors. UPTE’s petition to add us to their unit without our consent will not succeed if we demonstrate substantial support for ComMas-UAW through union authorization cards. 

This is not the first time UPTE has intervened in an ongoing unionization campaign by trying to accrete a small portion of the group into their union. We know from our colleagues who formed SSAP-UAW and RPSP-UAW that UPTE attempted the same maneuver when they were organizing, but UPTE ultimately wasn’t successful because they didn’t have support from workers.

Though UPTE has begun to email ComMas across many other job titles asking them to sign their union cards, they have no actual campaign or plan to include us. UPTE’s approach of accreting each job title one by one would take years to add all of us to their existing bargaining unit — much longer and less democratically than if we continue organizing our own union.

This union effort was formed as part of a large movement of UC staff who did their research and chose to unionize with UAW. Many of us were formerly UAW members ourselves or work alongside UAW members and have seen how the 60,000 UC employees in UAW have been able to advance their rights and strengthen the university as a whole. We collectively chose to join UAW because of the proven track record of strong contracts won through a worker-led, democratic approach to organizing. That approach means taking the time to talk to coworkers about everyone’s priorities, listening, and building a shared vision to improve UC.

UPTE uses a different method, in which they add small groups of workers in certain job titles to their union without any input or say from the workers affected.

Last year, a group of unionizing colleagues at UC faced a similar situation and underwent an

extensive interview and research process. They also chose UAW. When doing our own research, we felt that by choosing UAW, we would have more of a voice in decisions that affect our jobs and livelihoods. If you’d like to learn more about our colleagues’ research, you can read more here. 

We encourage you to thoroughly read and review all information about unionization, including emails coming from UPTE, and discussing with a colleague who is familiar with our process of choosing a union.

If you’d like assistance or have questions, you can contact a colleague involved in ComMas by sending an email to unionize@uc-uaw.org.

UPTE has been bargaining with UC for over a year and half and are currently planning to go on strike. They are now seeking to incorporate Writer-Editors and Broadcast Communication Specialists into that process, but it’s entirely unclear what their plan is for the rest of us, since they are limited in how many people they can accrete into their unit. They also have not made it clear how Writer-Editors or Broadcast Communication Specialists would have any say in what is being negotiated. In many cases, workers accreted into UPTE have gone for years with no raises. For instance:

• In 2014, they accreted Physical Therapists. They did not reach a bargaining agreement with the UC until 2 years later in 2016. 

• In 2016, they accreted Business Technical Support Analysts. They did not reach a bargaining agreement with the UC until 2 years later in 2018. 

• In 2019, they accreted System Administrators 1-3. They did not reach a bargaining agreement with the UC until 4.5 years later in 2023.

• In 2021, UPTE accreted Behavioral Health Counselors; 4 years later, these workers still do not have a contract.

• Between May and December of 2023, UPTE accreted at least 5 more job titles; 1 year later, none of these workers have a contract. 

Certainly, anyone should feel free to organize with whichever group they choose.  We have chosen to organize with UAW because we believe it is the most powerful and democratic choice.  We don’t recommend signing cards for both UAW and UPTE because it would ultimately delay our ability to get certified so we can start bargaining (which given recent actions by the Trump administration has in our view become increasingly urgent).

Possibly. Under state law, any employee organization has the right to intervene and seek consideration for representation when a petition is filed. To qualify to be included on the ballot, a union would need to submit cards representing at least 10% of the bargaining unit.

We have seen the proven track record of strong UAW contracts, and we are excited to be joining the largest union at UC!  For example, UAW Postdocs won 20-23% salary increases (up to $12,000) this year and 7.2% annual increases for the next 3 years. Academic Researchers at UC won the same percentage of raises in just 4 years that they had seen in the previous 15 years, with no union. Postdocs also won 2% and 4% fixed increases on premiums and health benefits at about 10X lower costs than at peer universities.

With double the people-power as UPTE, UAW has been at the forefront of fighting for increased funding to our university to enable greater salary increases and job security. By joining this movement, communications workers will also gain political power to impact policy and funding decisions on the local, state, and federal levels. UAW has historically taken bold stands in response to federal, local and state policies that impact workers, and continues to take action and pressure elected officials around the impact of the more recent federal funding decisions. Lastly, we have been encouraged by UAW’s approach to worker-led democratic organizing on our own campus. The RPSPs and the SSAPS recently unionized this year at UC using the UAW model. This means 12,000 of our fellow research and student services professionals are now joining UAW, and we seek to join them in this movement!

UPTE’s retirement benefits appeal to some, but not all UC workers. Thousands of our colleagues who weighed the options of joining UPTE or UAW determined that they would be better off negotiating for a retirement benefit that considered the needs and wishes of everyone in their group, rather than what was pre-negotiated by UPTE. By forming ComMas-UAW, we have the opportunity to choose to negotiate for benefits based on input from communications workers and what we decide to bring to the negotiating table.

UAW workers pioneered collective bargaining over pensions in the US. In UAW, workers set their own bargaining priorities and when they choose to bargain over pensions, they win. Postdocs prioritized bargaining over healthcare and won one of the strongest healthcare plans of all UC employees. The 7,000 postdocs in UAW won 2% and 4% fixed increases on premiums. ComMas have not yet decided on our bargaining priorities, but when we do that collectively, we will have the greatest power to make advancements within the largest union that a majority of us democratically chose to join.