Impacts of UAW Collective Bargaining Agreements on Sponsored Research

In December 2022, the University of California completed agreements on contracts with Academic Researchers, Postdoctoral Scholars, and Graduate Student Researchers. These agreements have several salary and benefit provisions that impact externally-funded research. An FAQ with more information on addressing the impact of these contracts on grants can be found on Blink under UAW Agreement Sponsored Project FAQs.

For new grant proposals, the new salary and benefit amounts should be included in the proposal budget. Salary amounts to budget on new proposals can be found here.

For existing contracts and grants, the anticipated total impact is estimated to be approximately between $15 and $20 million (total impact for currently funded awards through the contract agreement period). Increases for individual appointments at each step begin in April, 2023 with annual increases in October for each of the subsequent years of the agreements. Annual increases vary from 3.5% to 18% with cumulative increases up to 52% depending on the appointment and experience level.

Our campus is committed to collaborative solutions to cover these salary differentials with as little impact on research as possible. We anticipate that local solutions through reallocation of the budget and use of discretionary funds of the PI, Chair, and/or Dean will be sufficient to cover the majority of the new funding required for grant-funded personnel.

The Chancellor, EVC, and Academic Vice Chancellors are leveraging investments by PIs, departments, and schools by establishing a pool of funds for instances in which School-level solutions are not sufficient. Approximately $10 million from the Chancellor and Academic Vice Chancellors will be available. The fund was established to specifically cover salary differentials required by the union agreements. If other costs are requested, VCs will consider those on a case-by-case basis.

The application for VC-level funding will be live in early March. Applications for VC-level funding will be required to identify the total differential funding required and funding obtained through non-VC sources by pursuing the strategies described below.

Strategies for Covering Salary Differentials on Active Grants

The following steps outline the order in which resources should be used to cover differential salaries (salary/benefit differential between what was approved on the budget and the agreements):

Reallocate funds on contracts and grants as allowable. The primary strategy for covering salary differentials will be to absorb them into the existing budgets.
Use discretionary funds available to the project PI. If the budget is not sufficient or has restrictions on salaries, discretionary funds of the PI should be examined.
If costs cannot be covered through resources of the PI, the PI should discuss the needs with the Department/Division Chair and then the Dean. If additional funds are needed, the PI, with approval from the Dean, may apply for the Grant Relief Fund. The process to apply for these funds is below.

Grant Relief Fund

The Grant Relief Fund has been established to mitigate the impact of the union agreement on active contracts and grants for the period of the agreements over which the grant is active, when resources of the PI, Chair, and Dean are insufficient. As stated above, the goal of this fund is to cover funding gaps once all other sources of funding have been used. Principal Investigators who have exhausted all strategies for covering these costs may apply for funds.

Any PI will be eligible to apply (regardless of rank or track) for VC-level funding. Priority will be given to applications that have a strong rationale for additional assistance, and with the goal of avoiding any reductions in the scope of work.

The application, which will be available in early March, will require that you provide information on the differential funding required for each grant, as well as the funding secured to cover the differential.

The goal of the fund is to alleviate impact on currently active budgets through the agreement period. You may request assistance through the end date of each grant. Note that you only need to request funds once; however, resources to cover compensation differentials will be paid annually. Chairs, deans, and VCs have the option to reconsider the request each year.

Additional information:

FAQs related to the impact on grants of the UAW contracts are available on Blink under UAW Agreement Sponsored Project FAQs.
For questions on funder restrictions on reallocation, consult your SPF Award Accountant.
More general FAQs related to the implementation of UAW contracts are available here.

Corinne Peek-Asa
Vice Chancellor, Research