Posts tagged University of California
Temple University graduate workers strike over ‘living wage’
February 6, 2023 // Following the lead of University of California graduate workers, teaching assistants and research assistants at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania went on strike Tuesday morning. The Temple University Graduate Student Association (TUGSA) announced on Twitter, “After bargaining for over a year, Temple still refuses to meet our demands of a living wage, dependent healthcare, longer leave, and better working conditions. We’re ready to bargain: is admin?”
To afford historic labor contract, UC considers cutting TAs, graduate student admissions
February 1, 2023 // The full financial cost of the labor settlements between UC and 48,000 academic workers who help power the vaunted teaching and research engine are still being tallied. But preliminary estimates have dealt a “financial shock to the system,” said Rosemarie Rae, UC Berkeley chief financial officer. The UC Office of the President estimates that the increased costs for salary, benefits and tuition across all 10 campuses will be between $500 million and $570 million over the life of the contracts. Individual campuses have come up with their own calculations: At UC Santa Barbara, for instance, the Academic Senate chair estimated that the cost of pay hikes alone could spiral to more than $53 million over three years.
Arizona university workers demand thriving wage
January 27, 2023 // Workers at the University of Arizona (UA) are demanding a large pay raise, to the tune of $25 an hour, by 2025. The United Campus Workers of Arizona (UCW), which also represents workers at Arizona State University (ASU), is calling for people to sign their petition to university administrators to implement a “dignified wage for ALL workers.” The UCW petition clamored for the payment of “a thriving wage, not a poverty wage” for workers due to rising inflation, which led to “significant increases in housing costs, gas, and food expenses.” The petition also claimed that around 4,000 employees “are not making enough to survive in our communities” because 43% of UA workers make less than $25 an hour. Currently, the UA petition has gathered 579 signatures out of its goal of 800 signatures.
Syracuse University grad students want to unionize to improve wages, working conditions
January 20, 2023 // SU plans to increase minimum stipends from $16,980 to $20,000 for master’s student workers and from $16,980 to $22,000 for doctoral students. The pay raises will begin in the 2023-2024 academic year. SU said it is also improving health insurance and child care subsidies for graduate student workers. SEIU already represents about 900 SU workers including custodians, housekeepers, maintenance and good service workers and library technicians.
Many Rank-and-File UC Grad Student Workers Are Unhappy With Tentative Agreement
December 26, 2022 // More than two-thirds (68%) of Student Researchers United (SRU)-UAW members approved the tentative agreement, while about 62% of UAW-2865 members backed the proposal. Support among SRU-UAW voters ranged from 19% at U.C. Santa Cruz to 86% at U.C. Berkeley Lab. For UAW-2865, U.C. San Diego (73%) showed the strongest support for the agreement, while just one in five U.C. Santa Cruz voters approved the deal.
Dissension brews among striking UC union members over tentative agreement
December 19, 2022 // Freund said graduate students have leverage to fight for more gains by withholding their work grading final exams and assignments. Whatever dissent has surfaced among members of the bargaining team, leaders say the democratic process will be on full display this week. “We have a very large and diverse union with 36,000 people,” Jaime said. “It’ll be up to each individual member to decide how to vote on this contract.”
Sick leave and family leave priorities for workers heading into new year
December 15, 2022 // The bitter negotiations that nearly brought the country’s freight rail system to a halt last week hinged on one quality of life issue: worker leave. Rail workers nearly went on strike over paid sick leave. They lost their fight, but in the post-pandemic era, the issue of how and when workers can take leave from their jobs is at the core of several major labor negotiations.
UC, unions to enter private mediation to settle differences
December 12, 2022 // “The University is pleased that the UAW has agreed to neutral private mediation so that we may resolve our differences and end the strike that has been impacting our students, faculty, and staff,” UC Executive Director of Systemwide Labor Relations Letitia Silas said in the statement.
Fears rise that UC strike could have long-lasting consequences on vaunted research, teaching
November 30, 2022 // “As long as this strike lasts, faculty across the system will be exercising their right to honor the picket line by refusing to conduct university labor up to and including submission of grades — labor that would not be possible without the labor of all other academic workers as well as university staff,” the faculty said in a statement. “We do this toward bettering the working and learning conditions of all students present and future.” The union is demanding significant pay increases to ease the burden of high rents in the pricey areas where UC campuses are located, along with more support for child care, parental leave, transportation, healthcare and international students. UC’s offers of wage increases don’t come close to meeting union demands but would make academic workers some of the highest paid among comparable public and private institutions, university officials say.