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Employee Representation

UC Davis has employee organizations that have rights to exclusively represent certain groups of employees, and also organizations with an interest in representing employees, but do not have exclusive rights.

Exclusive Representatives

An employee organization that has been certified under the provisions of the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA) to represent a group of employees with similar job classifications is called an "exclusive representative." The university may address only that organization concerning matters of rights for those employees. These employees are covered by a bi-lateral agreement—a labor contract negotiated between the university and the exclusive representative. The exclusive representatives at the university are:

  • American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME): There are two AFSCME contracts: Service and Patient Care Technical employees.
  • Coalition of University Employees (Teamsters): Represents clerical employees.
  • California Nurses Association (CNA): Represents registered nurses.
  • American Federation of Teachers (AFT): represents librarians and non-senate faculty.
  • University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE): Represents certain technical, staff research professional, and hospital professional employees.
  • Federated University Police Officers Association (FUPOA): Represents police officers (but not sergeants or higher ranks) in campus police departments.
  • Association of Graduate Student Employees-United Automobile Workers (AGSE-UAW): Represents academic student employees. Some of the represented classifications at UC Davis are teaching assistants and tutors.
  • International Association of Firefighters (IAFF): Represents firefighters at UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz. These are the only campuses with their own fire departments.

These unions represent employees as a group during contract negotiations. All the contracts in effect at UC Davis are systemwide contracts. However, most of these exclusive representatives have local chapters which provide representation for employees on individual issues such as grievances.

Non-Exclusive Representatives

Employees who are covered by the Personnel Policies for Staff Members or the Academic Personnel Manual do not currently have an exclusive representative. The California Court of Appeals has ruled that the university is obligated to notify individual employees of proposed changes in their wages, hours, terms, conditions of employment, and to meet and discuss those changes with employees or their representatives, including employee organizations. Several organizations (AFSCME, UPTE, Plumbers & Pipefitters, and the Davis Faculty Association) are considered to be non-exclusive representatives because they have expressed interest in representing some of these employees.

Representation of Supervisors

Supervisors also have rights under the HEERA to be represented in grievances and in meetings with management regarding their terms and conditions of employment, however, there are legal restrictions on those rights. Supervisory employees cannot elect an exclusive bargaining agent or negotiate collective bargaining agreements. In addition, supervisory employees cannot represent nonsupervisory employees, or vice versa, in grievances or in discussions with management over wages, hours, or terms and conditions of employment. Managers and confidential employees do not have rights under the HEERA. They may not be represented in grievance matters or investigatory interviews by supervisory or rank and file employees.

Other Exceptions

  • Managers: management employees are excluded from coverage under HEERA and may neither belong to an employee organization nor represent covered employees.
  • Confidential employees: a confidential employee is one who is required to develop or present management positions with respect to collective bargaining or whose duties require access to information that contributes to the development of such positions. They are excluded from coverage under HEERA and may neither belong to an employee organization nor represent covered employees.

Further Information