CALIFORNIA, USA — Striking graduate students at the University of California reached a final agreement just a week after a tentative agreement was proposed, ending a 40-day strike at the prestigious state system.
The strike was the largest ever with 36,000 academic workers at UC have reached final agreement on new contracts, according to a Student Researchers United-Law press release.
Wages will rise up to 80% for some of the lowest-paid workers, with all workers seeing a boost in pay, union representatives said. The contracts also improve benefits to help workers cover child care expenses and health costs and will help intentional students, they said.
The vote for UAW 2865 was 11,386 to 7,097 and the vote for SRU-UAW was 10,057 to 4,640.
The bargaining units were represented by the United Auto Workers.
The full details of the UAW 2865 contract can be found HERE, but some highlights can be found below.
- Wage increases by 2024
- 55-80% increases for Academic Student Employees
- 25-80% increases for Student Researchers
- 27% increase to childcare subsidies
- 2023: Increasing from $1,650/semester to $2,025/semester
- 2024: Increasing to $2,100/semester
- Dependent healthcare
- Limited to single-parents or single-income households that fall above the free medi-cal coverage threshold.
- PTO increases
- 8 weeks of fully paid parental leave for birthing and non-birthing parents which is up from 6 weeks for birthing parents and 4 weeks for non-birthing parents
- 8 weeks of disability or medical related leave and additional guaranteed paid time off for Student Researchers
- Non-discrimination and anti-bullying policies
- Historic protections from discrimination and harassment at work for Student Researchers with guaranteed interim measures.
The agreements cover about 36,000 workers, many of whom make as little as $24,000 annually, a paltry salary for living in cities like Los Angeles, San Diego and Berkeley, where the university system has campuses.
The union said the strike, which began in mid-November, was largest ever among academic workers. It was being closely watched by other university campuses around the country.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg was called to be a mediator in negotiations. This is his second time striking a deal in this context.
The agreement comes weeks after the UC system reached a similar deal with postdoctoral employees and academic researchers who make up about 12,000 of the 48,000 union members who walked off the job and onto picket lines Nov. 14. That agreement will hike pay up to 29% and provide increased family leave, childcare subsidies and lengthened appointments to ensure job security, according to a statement from United Auto Workers Local 5810.
The academic workers had argued they couldn't afford to live in cities such as Los Angeles, San Diego and Berkeley, where housing costs are soaring, with the current salaries.
The strike came at a time of increased labor action nationwide, not just in higher education but among workers at Starbucks, Amazon and elsewhere and a groundswell of unionization efforts among graduate student employees at other universities.
Just this year, graduate student employees at MIT, Clark University, Fordham University, Mexico State University, Washington State University and Worchester Polytechnical Institute all voted in favor of unionization.
