Study: Income Inequity Among UCLA, UCSF Staff Presents Risks For Universities

LOS ANGELES and SAN FRANCISCO, July 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The UC Administrative Professionals Network (UCAPN), a group of administrative professionals at UCLA and UCSF, announced the findings of a study that they are published in partnership with Teamsters Local 2010: Barely Getting By: Struggling to Make Ends Meet at the University of California.

The report's findings concluded that policy-covered administrative professionals (PCAPs) without union representation at both campuses are grossly underpaid and overworked relative to similar university systems and the private sector, and that compensation inequity at UCLA and UCSF could lead to staff shortages that pose operational risks for patient care, academic advising, student housing and other areas ahead of the 2020-2021 school year. Some other key findings of the report were:

• Current policy-covered administrative professional (PCAP) wages are 27 percent lower than wages for similar positions at other public and private sector employers throughout California.
• Since 2009-10, systemwide wage freezes and mandatory increases to pension contributions for policy-covered employees at UC have reduced cumulative wage growth for PCAPs relative to aggregate wages and inflation.
• PCAPS have postponed major life events (like having children or retiring), moved farther from jobs for more affordable housing, and been unable to pay for food, medical procedures, or childcare. Many report that they are experiencing depression and extreme stress due to financial difficulties.
• Compensation inequity among PCAPs – which has occurred due to the policy choices of UC administrators – results in negative organization-level effects, such as high turnover, reduced performance, and lower levels of productivity.
• 60 percent of PCAPs at UCLA and UCSF said that they plan on looking for a new job outside UC in the next year, with better pay and more promotion opportunities as the top reasons for doing so.

The report recommended several courses of action to mitigate the compensation inequity that threatens to disrupt university operations, even though the university may face budgetary concerns as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. These include tapping into existing financial resources to avoid staff cuts, accounting for operational inefficiencies that could be streamlined to realize cost savings and prioritizing the value of UC staff by keeping them on payroll.

"Preventing further compensation inequity for this workgroup is crucial to navigating the unprecedented task of operating – and, later this year, potentially reopening – a statewide university system during a global pandemic," the report said. "As such, the uncertain operational path ahead for the university demands that UC not worsen the inequity that PCAPs already face."

Student Affairs Officer Tony Buffo has worked at UCLA since 1999.

"Student enrollment and my work load increase every year, but staffing levels don't keep up with the pace of increase," Buffo said. "I work with people who get a raise every year. In the past twelve years my pay has barely gone up, I work a second job just to make ends meet."

UCSF Executive Assistant Wandralee Lindtzie has been at UC for ten years, and she said her experience hasn't been any different.

"UC is sacrificing the health and welfare of its employees by laying staff off, not replacing the staff who leave, and forcing more and more work on the few who remain such as myself," Lindtzie said. "This is bringing us physically and mentally to the breaking point and it cannot continue much longer without harming us and university operations."

The report can be found in its entirety at http://ibt.io/barelygettingbyatUC.

Teamsters Local 2010 is made up of 14,000 hard-working University of California and California State University employees standing together to win better wages, benefits and working conditions. We are affiliated with the 1.4 million members of the Teamsters Union across the United States and Canada. For more information go to http://teamsters2010.org/.  

Contact: 
Aimee Baror, (213) 220-0538 
[email protected]

SOURCE Teamsters Local 2010