UC’s academic union workers in week two of strike

About 48,000 academic union workers at the University of California are in the second week of a strike at UC’s 10 campuses, from San Diego north to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. They walked off their jobs on Nov. 14 amid complaints of unfair labor practices, an action that closed some classrooms and research labs.

The strikers, who are in multiple bargaining units of the United Auto Workers, say bread and butter issues drove their labor action.  

Just ask Menelik Tafari, 32, a fourth year Ph.D. student in urban schooling, graduate student researcher, organizer and teacher assistant at UCLA. He has been walking the picket line with fellow strikers, upset with the economics of their occupations. 

The base pay of some striking UC academic workers is roughly $24,000 annually, or around $2,000 per month.

“This September was the first time in four years that UC paid me on time,” he said. “I have seen family; friends and peers suffer at the hands of UC. Not only are we not paid an equitable living wage but also intermittently.”

Insufficient UC funding drives his wage income, Tafari says. The base pay of some striking UC academic workers is roughly $24,000 annually, or around $2,000 per month, he said. “That is not enough to pay for rent, food and transit in LA and California,” he added.

In contrast, consider compensation for UC chancellors. Earlier this year, they received salary hikes of 6% to 28%, increasing their annual pay from roughly $522,000 to $640,000, according to EdSource.

Talks between UC and the UAW bargaining units are continuing. Both sides agree on some bargaining issues but disagree on compensation.

The strikers point to California’s crisis of affordable housing, apartments and homes,  in which demand exceeds supply. This imbalance, decades in the making, hikes prices for buyers and renters.

Unaffordable housing in the Golden State precedes the current spate of inflation, reflecting a general rise in prices. Against that backdrop, less equal wealth distribution arrived between 1989 and 2019. During these 30 years, wealth rose among the top 10% and fell for the bottom half, according to the Congressional Budget Office. 

Talks between UC and the UAW bargaining units are continuing. Both sides agree on some bargaining issues but disagree on compensation.

“The University of California continues to negotiate in good faith as we do everything possible to mitigate the impacts of any strike on student learning and our research enterprise,” according to a UC statement released by Ryan King, a spokesperson for the UC Office of the President.

“We believe that the best path to an agreement is with the aid of a third-party mediator.” — Ryan King

“The current University proposal would set the standard for graduate academic employee support among public research universities. It is important to note that our graduate student employees work strictly on a part-time basis while earning their graduate or doctoral degree and that compensation is just one of the many ways in which they get support as students during their time with the University.

“We believe that the best path to an agreement is with the aid of a third-party mediator, and have proposed to the United Auto Workers enlisting the assistance of a neutral private mediator so that we can achieve a compromise. We continue to encourage the union’s partnership in pursuing mediation.”

The UC strikers do not receive pay from their employer while off the job. However, the strikers do receive $400 a week from the UAW strike fund. There is a set of criteria for strikers to do such as signing up for picketing shifts relative to receiving strike fund payments. This includes the 17,000 UC student researchers on strike without a contract, or collective bargaining agreement. 

UC’s refusal to bargain with us … is an unlawful attempt to undermine our collective bargaining rights.” — Kavitha Iyengar

What about strikers unable to join in-person job actions due to inaccessibility or other issues such as health conditions? For these UC academic workers on strike, there are alternate activities to undertake such as phone banking. Lastly, there is also a hardship fund of nearly $300,000 for strikers.

California’s Public Employee Relations Board issued six complaints Wednesday regarding the UC’s refusal and failure to bargain with UAW 2865 and SRU-UAW over compensation, and UC’s “unilateral changes to workers’ compensation,” according to a union statement. 

“We are heartened to see PERB issue complaints on these six charges – UC cannot simply refuse to bargain over meaningful portions of our compensation, and they cannot unilaterally decide to change or dock pay while we are bargaining,” said Kavitha Iyengar, UAW 2865 Northern Vice President.

“These complaints mark recognition of what Academic Workers have known all along: UC’s refusal to bargain with us over all of our compensation is not only unacceptable, it is an unlawful attempt to undermine our collective bargaining rights,” Iyengar said

As of day 10 of the UC strike, UAW locals have filed over 30 unfair labor practice complaints against the University, and PERB has found validity with each that they have responded to at press time, according to the UAW. “The union has a case that the University has violated state labor law” at multiple campuses, the UAW contends.

But King said the PERB complaints came from inaccurate information supplied by the union, adding that ” “We disagree with their claims and note that to date there has been no finding of wrongdoing by the PERB against the University.”

“A complaint is not a ruling or finding of wrongdoing — it is a preliminary determination that the allegations on their face are sufficient to warrant closer review for these complaints, filed with the PERB months ago. Since PERB has not fully adjudicated any of the UAW’s ULP charges, to date there has been no finding of wrongdoing against the University.”

Meanwhile, both sides were talking Wednesday at the bargaining table.
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Editor’s Note: Seth Sandronsky lives and works in Sacramento. He is a journalist and member of the Pacific Media Workers Guild. Email sethsandronsky@gmail.com.