Posts tagged University of California
Opinion: As Trump slashes research, California devises a solution
May 1, 2026 // The University of California system alone — where the United Auto Workers union, the organization I lead, represents 60,000 workers, including academic employees and researchers — risks losing between $5 billion and $6 billion every year from the Trump administration’s cuts. The UAW represents more than 120,000 academic workers across the country,
40,000 UC workers threaten statewide strike across hospitals, campuses, dining halls
April 17, 2026 // A union representing more than 40,000 workers across the University of California campuses and medical centers announced Wednesday that it would launch an open-ended strike next month unless its contract demands are met, opening up the possibility of postponed medical procedures, limited cleaning at hospitals and campuses and reductions in undergraduate dining services.
UC-wide strike averted after tentative agreement with UAW
March 16, 2026 // A UC systemwide strike will likely be averted after UAW and the University of California reached a tentative agreement Friday after seven months of negotiations. UAW 4811, the union that represents 48,000 student employees, postdocs and academic researchers across the UC system, announced the tentative agreement in an email Friday night.
Unions representing 40k academic, research UC employees announce strike vote
January 13, 2026 // Unions representing about 40,000 academic and research employees across the UC announced Monday that they plan to hold an authorization vote Feb. 5 to 13 for an unfair labor practice strike. United Auto Workers Local 4811, Research and Public Service Professionals-UAW and Student Services and Academic Professionals-UAW announced the vote in a joint Instagram post. A website for the three unions said demands for their workers include job security, opportunities for career advancement and protections for international workers.
UCSD Preuss School teachers strike over alleged unfair labor practices
December 17, 2025 // The Preuss School is a charter middle and high school operated by the University of California, San Diego to help low-income students go to college. UC-AFT, the union representing the educators, shared teachers are striking from Tuesday to Wednesday to get a contract that gives Preuss staff the same benefits as other San Diego Unified schools
Union representing 25,000 nurses reaches deal with UC, averts planned strike
November 19, 2025 // Originally, AFSCME had planned to go on strike with University Professional and Technical Employees CWA Local 9119, or UPTE-CWA 9119, a union representing about 21,000 professional and technical UC employees, in an attempt to secure higher wages. CNA planned to participate in a sympathy strike to show solidarity with other unions and increase pressure on the UC system. However, UPTE also recently reached a tentative agreement with the UC, leaving AFSCME to strike alone. The UC system also released a statement praising the agreement, claiming that it yields “meaningful pay and benefit increases for more than 24,000 UC nurses.”
UC Santa Barbara Service and Patient Care Workers Join Strike over Wages, Housing Inequality
November 19, 2025 // The union — American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, which represents about 40,000 food service workers, custodians, hospital technicians, and patient care assistants across the UC system, including around 600 at UCSB — has been in contract negotiations with the university for 22 months. Members of the California Nurses Association who work at UC hospitals also went on strike in solidarity. The key issue: affordability. The union says average frontline workers, who make between $40,000–$60,000 a year, now earn 10 percent less in real wages than before the pandemic.
UC reaches contract agreement with 21,000 employees, averting a strike
November 10, 2025 // The union was set to strike Nov. 17 and 18 and be joined by more than 60,000 supporters from two additional UC unions, AFSCME 3299 and the California Nurses Assn. The unions said it would have been the largest labor strike in UC history. AFSCME 3299 represents patient care technical workers, custodians, food service employees, security guards, secretaries and other workers at UC hospitals and campuses. UC and UPTE said details of the tentative contract, which union members must ratify, would be released next week. Prior to the agreement, UPTE workers were seeking investments from UC into retention, pay and ensuring safe working conditions to help address a staffing crisis that the union said "threatens patient care, student services, and the research mission at the heart of the UC system."
‘UC workers are going to end up homeless’: 86,000 University of California employees plan massive strike
November 7, 2025 // The University of California, which has been negotiating separately with the three unions, condemned the planned strike as "an attempt to pressure the university into accepting unreasonable wage and benefit demands that would put UC in a financially precarious position and jeopardize its mission of teaching, research and public service."
In landslide victory, 7,200 UC professionals join United Auto Workers in unionization effort
September 8, 2025 // In a win for labor, 7,200 researchers and public service professionals, or RPSPs, across the University of California system announced Tuesday the formation of a new union after a vote in late August. The vote passed with 83% of the 3,692 ballots cast voting “yes.” The thousands of previously nonunionized employees now represented by RPSP-UAW, will join over 50,000 UC workers organized with the United Auto Workers, or UAW.