Posts tagged UCLA
United Auto Workers units finalize agreements with UC, avoid strike
March 24, 2026 // The three units – UAW Local 4811’s academic student employees unit, Research and Public Service Professionals-UAW and Student Services and Advising Professionals-UAW – represent more than 40,000 UC academic and research employees, including teaching assistants. The ratification marks SSAP-UAW and RPSP-UAW’s first contracts with the University, while UAW Local 4811’s previous contract expired Feb. 28. About 89% of academic student employees across the UC – and 85% at UCLA – voted to ratify the contract, as well as 98% of RPSPs and 99% of SSAPs, according to an email sent to UAW Local 4811 members.
National Right to Work Foundation Sues UCLA Over Public Records Request for Union “Strategic Research” Workshops
November 20, 2025 // Both events about which the Foundation requested information dealt with so-called “strategic research,” a tactic that “prioritizes gathering targeted information” to find new businesses and workers on which to launch unionization campaigns or other campaigns. The events, titled the “UCLA Strategic Labor Research Conference” and “Private Equity Research Strategies,” both had heavy political overtones as well, with the former drawing attendees “working outside labor in adjacent social movements, like climate change, food justice and housing,” according to UCLA’s website. Both gatherings took place between April and August of 2024.
Labor unions, faculty associations sue Trump administration over demands to UCLA
September 17, 2025 // UCLA would also be expected to make a statement that it no longer recognizes the identities of transgender individuals, end gender-affirming care for minors at its medical facilities, offer female-only housing and “make clear through the statement and on its website that it does not welcome transgender people on sports teams,” as part of the deal, according to the LA Times. Diego Emilio Bollo, the president of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, said he believes the federal government is withholding the funds in an attempt to coerce the university to compromise its values – including those of academic freedom, free speech and equity. He added that USAC is “incredibly thankful and in support” of the lawsuit.
Freelance Busting: Heart’s Desire
June 10, 2025 // Indeed found that 48% of women who switched to contract work reported improved mental health, and of the women who changed to gig work, one-third (38%) reported improved mental health. GrowTal/Opinium reported that 72% of women freelancers say their overall mental wellbeing has improved since freelancing. Freshbooks Cloud Accounting determined that 59% of self-employed women say they have less stress, and 57% of self-employed women say they’re healthier.
Union Workers at UCLA to Strike April 1 Over Staffing Shortages, Labor Disputes
April 1, 2025 // UPTE healthcare, research, and tech workers will strike at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The walkout, organized by the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE), will include workers from all UC campuses and medical centers. The action follows a series of escalating disputes between the union and university administrators over staffing, rising healthcare costs, and what union officials call a strategy of “divide-and-conquer” bargaining. UPTE accuses the UC system of refusing to meaningfully engage in negotiations with newly unionized professionals, such as mental health clinicians, who joined the union to advocate for improved student and patient care.
Thousands of workers from AFSCME 3299 and UPTE-CWA 9119 to strike across UC
February 27, 2025 // The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, which represents patient care, service and skilled craft workers, called for its second strike against the UC this academic year for Wednesday and Thursday. University Professional and Technical Employees-Communications Workers of America 9119, which represents researchers and technical workers, will also strike from Wednesday to Friday. UCLA Housing said in a Monday email that it will consolidate dining locations and adjust menus in response to AFSCME 3299’s strike. Bathroom cleaning schedules will also be modified, and some carriers may not deliver mail to UCLA, housing staff added in the email.
Canvassers respond to anti-Semitic demonstrations at UCLA
October 18, 2024 // While we are always looking to be respectful and informative, our canvassers have also been met with extremely vulgar attacks from none other than AFSMCE 3299 shop stewards. Just yesterday the pair was castigated for simply handing out literature and trying to engage with workers in front of the medical center. Profanities and threats of attacks were met with a polite, yet bold, resistance.
Judge orders University of California workers to end strike protesting response to anti-Israel protests
June 11, 2024 // A California judge ordered University of California academic workers to end their strike after they have been walking picket lines at several campuses in protest of the university system's response to anti-Israel demonstrations on campuses. Orange County Superior Court Judge Randall Sherman handed the ruling down on Friday, according to CNS. The university system filed suit earlier last week aiming to end the strikes by the workers' union, United Auto Workers Local 4811, after two unsuccessful attempts to obtain an injunction against the union from the state Public Employment Relations Board.
OPINION Unionized academic workers go on strike, for what?
June 4, 2024 // The union, which states on its website that it “will not negotiate on behalf of encampment organizers,” has filed multiple complaints against the University of California with the state’s Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) since the beginning of May, when the university called in law enforcement to break down the “Palestine Solidarity Encampment” at UCLA. By then the initial 30 tents had grown into a massive, self-barricaded site that attracted angry counter-protesters in a violent overnight clash. The union’s complaint listed “workplace demands” that included the “right to opt out of participation in military-funded research,” and the “disclosure and divestment of University funds from Israel’s war effort.” The UAW local also complained that a new discipline policy of an “applicable review process” for employees who are arrested or cited was imposed without “notice or opportunity to bargain.” Further, the union wants the university to “make whole” any employees who were reported for criminal activity by paying their civil fines, attorney fees, bail and damage expenses.
UC student workers expand strike as they demand amnesty for protestors
May 31, 2024 // While the strike is technically distinct from the larger protest movement against the war, the two movements are related. Last Thursday, several hundred UCLA members of the UAW 4811 held a rally in support of their impending strike. Moments later, they joined a student-led protest demanding that the UC call for a ceasefire and divest from weapons manufacturers and the Israeli economy. That same day, protesters erected a short-lived encampment and temporarily took over a campus building before being pushed out by police. It was a clear sign that, despite hundreds of arrests in May, thousands of students, union members and some faculty remain passionate about their pro-Palestinian advocacy.