University of California Workers Go on Strike

On Monday morning, tens of thousands of academic workers at the University of California (UC) system went on strike for higher wages and better working conditions.

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About 48,000 unionized academic workers across the University of California's 10 campuses walked off the job, reported the Los Angeles Times, noting that those academic workers perform the majority of teaching and research.

The systemwide strike includes teaching assistants, postdoctoral scholars, graduate student researchers, tutors and fellows, as well as workers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and it's expected to cause major disruptions in classes and day-to-day campus life.

The UC has over 227,000 faculty and staff nowadays. It is currently in contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers (UAW) which represents postdoctoral scholars, academic researchers, teaching assistants, tutors, and graduate student researchers.

The UAW is demanding the University of California increase salaries so workers no longer have to live on what they described as "poverty wages." 

"Inflation has bitten into our earnings in a huge, huge way," UCLA Teaching Fellow Representative Michael Dean said, adding that proposals made by the university so far don't even match the rate of inflation and "amounts to a real wage cut."

UAW Local 5810, the union of more than 11,000 postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers, urged all 48,000 UC academic workers who are physically able, to walk out this morning and join the unfair labor practices strike.

The University of California noted that it "strongly disagree with the UAW allegations that UC has engaged in unlawful behavior" and "continues to negotiate in good faith" with the union and is committed to working with the UAW to finding solutions to outstanding issues.