MERCED, Calif. — The strike among 48,000 higher education workers at the University of California's ten campuses entered its third week.
With final exams in two weeks, students remain caught in the middle.
On the campus of UC Merced, 19-year-old mechanical engineering student Bryan Ixcoy is scrambling to learn all he can with finals fast approaching.
"Definitely more studying than what I would usually do, definitely meeting up with more people and discussing the topics more," said Ixcoy, who moved to the campus from San Bernardino.
Post-doctoral scholars as well as graduate assistants and researchers, who lead discussions on topics and lab work in the classroom, are instead holding picket signs and out on strike. It's no different for students at UC Davis.
"Grading, labs. I know for myself a lot of my labs are impacted," said engineering major Kay Cosper.
48,000 workers are on strike, represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union. This is happening as dozens of tentative agreements have been reached on a number of issues, but the key issue related to wages is the largest sticking point.
"What we're looking for are wages that lift us out of rent burden, right? So, right now, graduate workers, graduate TA's (teaching assistants), graduate researchers are often paid as little as $24,000 a year as their salaries. And, we think this is unacceptable. We need something to be considerably higher," said Mark Woodall, UAW Merced Unit Chair.
On the other side of the negotiations, the UC says its proposal to grad students and academic employees is at the top of the pay scale in comparison to major public universities.
In a statement, the UC says in part, "We are committed to achieving a fair and reasonable contract that honors the important contributions these bargaining unit members make..."
But for UC Merced students like 19-year-old chemistry major Sadie Koonce, the end to the strike can't come soon enough.
"It has been a little bit harder grasping more difficult subjects, but I've got lots of friends in classes so we've been getting together more to study for that," said Koonce.
The UC says it has held daily bargaining sessions with the union since the strike began in mid-November. There have been 95 tentative agreements ranging from workplace accessibility to respectful work environments.
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