Black and Latino workers at UCLA and nine other University of California campuses are more likely to be fired, or get smaller raises than white workers when promoted, according to a union study released Oct. 25.
The report by a UC union representing service and patient care tech workers comes at the height of a three-day strike over the outsourcing of janitors to nurse aids at 10 campuses, five medical centers as well as clinics and research labs across the state.
The strike led by the AFSCME Local 3299, representing 25,000 service and tech workers, ends Friday, Oct. 26. Union officials say as many as 8,000 jobs outsourced to lower-paid non-union workers are at risk.
A crowd of an estimated 2,000 protestors tied up morning traffic on Oct. 25 and Oct. 25 along Wilshire Boulevard near the UCLA campus in Westwood, according to a union official.
The UC Office of the President said the union has spread false information about displaced employees across the UC system. It also said the university takes worker equity seriously, and has a process to swiftly respond to reports of unfairness.
“Union leaders are using the release of this report to distract from the real reason behind their strike – the fact that UC has not succumbed to their excessive, unrealistic demands on wages and benefits,” said Claire Doan, a spokeswoman for the UC Office of the President, in Oakland.
“An 8 percent wage increase per year, or 36 percent over four years, is simply not feasible or sustainable, especially for a taxpayer-supported institution.”
In the past five years, the overall number of union jobs has increased by 9.9 percent to 85,000 workers, who received an average pay increase of nearly 24 percent per worker, according to the university.
At the same time, it said the overall number of service and patient care workers has increased 17.1 percent to 25,000 workers, with an average pay increase of 21 percent.
The new union study, in contrast, builds on research released in April that highlights growing income, racial and gender disparities at UC. It tracked the job promotions or exits for 25,000 UC service and patient care workers between 2013 and 2017.
It said black workers were twice as likely to be laid off or fired as white male workers, and that when black and Latinos changed jobs or got promoted, they received smaller pay increases on average than their white co-workers.
It also said that among 3,000 service workers who changed job titles during the study period, white workers received raises averaging $3,000 more per year than black women.
“The data reveals that black and brown service and patient care workers are far more likely than white workers to be fired or otherwise forced out of their jobs,” said Owen Li, co-author of the April report and its October update.
While UC is not immune to the workplace disparity issues outline in the study, Doan said, it has mechanisms in place to respond swiftly to any instances of unfairness.
“We encourage any employee who believes he or she is being treated unfairly to bring their concerns to the attention of the proper UC office,” she said, “so that they may be addressed quickly.”
Health business reporter Dana Bartholomew can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @_DanaBart.
