CUE-Teamsters at Groundbreaking Ask Yudof to Bargain a Fair Contract

Administrative Assistants, Clerical Workers Confront Officials

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- At the groundbreaking for the University of California's Mission Bay Medical Center today, university officials, including UC President Mark Yudof, were confronted by university administrative assistants and clerical workers who urged them to bargain their long-overdue contract.

"We believe in the University's mission to provide compassionate medical care, but we don't understand why this very same institution won't treat its employees with respect," said Beverly Byrd, a member of CUE-Teamsters Local 2010. "After more than two years of no progress we are giving UC President Yudof notice that he must sit down with representatives of the Union so that a fair contract can be worked out."

Some of the more than 14,000 employees of the university are those who schedule medical appointments, register patients and bill insurance companies. All are members of the CUE-Teamsters 2010 who voted in May, 2010, to affiliate with the Teamsters Union. For over two years the university has refused to bargain a contract with fair wages for these workers, while at the same time bargaining and approving wage increases with several other workforce units across the state's campus system.

"The university needs to make a serious investment in its core, the employees who are behind the scenes running the institution and those on the front line," said Rome Aloise, Teamsters International Vice President and President of Joint Council 7 in San Francisco. "This beautiful building at Mission Bay is a great commitment to the community, but UC needs to take care of its soul, its employees, too."

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

SOURCE CUE-Teamsters Local 2010