Largest Strike in Higher Education History Results in Significant Gain for UC Employees

On November 14th of 2022, 48,000 academic workers went on strike across the University of California. As a senior who was applying to UCs around that time, I took particular interest in the strike and was left wondering why they were on strike.

Before November 14, 2022, negotiations between the unions and UC were going on for quite a while and some might question why the United Auto Workers labor union decided to go on strike. The United Auto Workers labor union represents a wide variety of workers such as multinational corporations, state and local governments to colleges, and universities. According to The Washington Post, the union accused “the university of not bargaining in good faith”. Some of the accusations they made against the bargaining units were that they “illegally made changes to pay and transit benefits without consulting the union”. So between October 26 and November 2, strike authorization votes were held by the UAW, and decided to go on strike Monday the 14th.

On November 14, 2022, around 48,000 academic workers across the 10 UCs campuses walked off the job and went on strike. These workers went on strike because they were demanding a minimum annual salary of $54,000 and child-care benefits as they claimed they didn’t earn enough to live in the state. On November 29. 12,000 postdoctoral and academic researchers who are a part of the UAW 5810 reached an unofficial agreement that included a 20-23% increase in salary, 4 more weeks of paid parental and family leave, childcare subsidies, longer appointments, stronger bullying protections, and transportation benefits. Due to it being an unofficial agreement they stayed on strike until it was ratified, which didn’t come until December 9.

The strike started to slowly create disruptions at the universities. During the strike, grading was disrupted and with it being during finals many professors canceled classes and final exams and others halted research. Throughout the strike, many workers risked getting arrested. On December 5 during a sit-in at the UC Office of the President in Sacramento, 17 workers were cited for trespassing. Similarly, on December 7, 10 academic workers from UCLA were arrested at a UC regent’s office on trespassing charges. Then on December 13, 14 protesters were arrested for having a sit-in during a UC Board of Regents meeting and refusing orders from the UC police department to disperse.

Finally, there was hope for the unions. On December 16 the 38,000 graduating assistants and student workers from the SRU-UAW and UAW 2865 came to an unofficial agreement with the university that would provide even the lowest-paid workers with an 80% boost until May 31, 2025. Then on December 23, two agreements between the SRU-UAW and UAW 2865 with the university were finally ratified ending the nearly six-week strike.

As acceptance letters come in for the class of 2023, many seniors will be making tough decisions about which college or university to attend. I’m happy that it appears that classes and campus life will be back to normal by next year, and I’m proud to know that our future professors and campus workers stuck together and fought for what they deserved.