Thousands on strike across University of California schools, including UC Merced
Dozens of UC Merced academic workers took to picket lines Monday, joining thousands of their colleagues across the University of California’s 10-campus system to strike for better pay and benefits.
The unionized workers started striking at the Central Valley campus at 8 a.m., UC Merced spokesperson Desiree Lopez told The Bee’s Education Lab in a text message.
“Currently, we are not sure how many are participating,” Lopez said, “but we expect more than 800 to possibly strike.”
As many as 48,000 employees represented by the United Auto Workers (or UAW) were expected to participate in the strike across the state, according to a news release.
In addition to auto workers, four separate bargaining units of the UAW represent a mix of full- and part-time graduate student instructors, academic researchers, tutors, and other employees in the UC system. Together, the UAW says these workers do “the majority of teaching and research at UC.”
Despite the strike, UC Merced still operated business as usual, Lopez said, with classes meeting and exams being administered as scheduled.
The UAW’s demands include higher pay, expanded childcare support, public transit passes, and expanded support for both international employees and those with disabilities.
Specifically, the unionized employees proposed a $54,000 minimum salary for all graduate-level workers and a $70,000 salary for postdoctoral scholars, as well as 14% raises for academic researchers and annual cost of living adjustments for all in a potential multiyear contract.
Graduate student researchers currently have the lowest minimum salary of the UAW-represented academic workers at $22,005. Teaching assistants and fellows don’t make much more than that with a salary range of $23,246 to $28,871, although the UC said both these classes of employees typically work 20 hours or fewer per week.
Postdoctoral scholars make anywhere from $55,632 to $66,600, while academic researchers’ salaries swing widely between $49,000 and $242,900 — both positions being full-time.
The UC administration has counter-offered with anywhere from a 4% raise for full-time academic researchers to 9-10% raises for typically part-time graduate student researchers in year one of the proposed contract, plus smaller percentage increases in subsequent years. These proposals would put academic workers’ pay near the top for public research universities and on par with private universities like Harvard, the UC said.
Workers say the UC proposals fail to keep up with inflation.
“What we’re asking for seems like a lot,” said Ricardo Robles, a teaching assistant who participated in the strike at UC Merced, “but ... in today’s economy — especially with inflation as outrageous as it is and the price of living going up — we’re all just asking for a wage that takes us out of poverty and doesn’t leave us (living) paycheck to paycheck.”
The UAW has also accused the UC system of breaking the law several times since contract negotiations began in the spring of 2021. Specific allegations include that the UC system bypassed the bargaining process by instituting new policies and withheld relevant information from bargaining team members.
The University categorically denied the allegations, which are being adjudicated by the Public Employee Relations Board.
“Throughout the negotiations, UC has listened carefully to the union’s concerns and bargained in good faith, as illustrated by the many tentative agreements reached thus far including on topics underlying the UAW’s allegations,” a statement from the UC said. “Despite these claims, UC remains committed to continuing its good faith efforts to reach agreements with UAW as quickly as possible.”
The UAW says the strike will continue until either the UC system “corrects its bad faith conduct” or the union votes to end it.
In another news release late Monday afternoon, the UC said it has proposed the use of a third-party mediator as “the best path to an agreement” with the UAW.
This story was originally published November 14, 2022 at 1:18 PM.
