By Tali Woodward

UC San Francisco has rebounded nicely from its ill-fated 1997 merger with Stanford University. And the executives who have steered the UCSF Medical Center to more stable ground have been lavishly thanked: with more than half a million dollars in bonuses last year.

Meanwhile, lower-ranking UC employees have endured years of salary freezes.

The executive bonus system won approval from the UC Regents back in the 1990s, amid concerns that regular public-sector pay couldn't possibly keep the best administrators from fleeing to private hospitals. As profits at many UC medical sites have increased over the past couple years, so have the bonuses.

According to documents submitted to the regents' Health Services Committee, the UC system paid more than $2.4 million in executive bonuses in October 2004. Of that, 14 UCSF executives – who, combined, had already been paid more than $3 million in wages – got another $583,740.

Salaries for the medical center's other employees have largely remained stagnant during this period.

The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 3299 – which represents more than 7,000 of the lowest-paid workers in the UC system, including janitors and food service workers – participated in two dozen bargaining sessions with UC during the past several months. But the union was unable to gain the concessions it wanted on more than 30 issues dealing with wages, cost-of-living adjustments, and opportunities for advancement.

UCSF custodian Patricia Olivares has struggled to support her child and mother for more than a decade. She was "outraged" when she heard about the executive bonuses. "There is money for them, and there is no money for us," she told the Bay Guardian. "We make less money than everybody else, and it has been almost three years – we have had no raise. They say it'll be three more years."

"The cost of living is so high," Olivares continued. "Everything is going up – gas, food, rent. We need more money for necessities, to support our families."

Midlevel workers, including nurses and doctors, are also frustrated by the bonuses bestowed on their bosses. "It shows they have money they could use to recruit and retain experienced nurses," UCSF surgical nurse Maureen Dugan said. "On my floor, it's almost 50 percent temporary nursing staff. There is a nursing shortage. We need to work now to keep who we have."

Mark Laret, who is CEO of UCSF and received a $79,495 bonus last October, responded to our calls with a written statement. "At every level of our organization, UCSF Medical Center strives to compensate its employees at the median of the market," he said in an e-mail sent by an assistant. "UCSF Medical Center leaders receive their compensation in two parts – a base salary plus an at-risk incentive based on performance. At this time, including both parts of their compensation, UCSF Medical Center leaders are paid well below the market for comparable academic medical centers."

UCSF communications staff also directed us to a statement issued by the Office of the President Feb. 2. "The incentive compensation is a reflection of the overall success of the medical center," it stated. "U.C. medical centers are self-supporting and expenses, including compensation, are funded by operating revenues."

Financial statements do indeed show UCSF has been making more money – it raked in $55 million in profits for the fiscal year ending in June 2004. Other UC medical sites, however, have been struggling financially and are planning cutbacks.

Regardless, UC medical centers do receive state funding. And many workers think money that's generated by the hospitals should be used to boost salaries, recruit nurses, or offset medical students' costs before executives get hefty bonuses.

UC workers rally for better wages Thurs/10, noon, UCSF Medical Center, 513 Parnassus, S.F. (510) 844-1160, ext. 110.

E-mail Tali Woodward