Advertisement

Read our full coverage of the UC academic workers’ strike

A man speaks into a megaphone as he leads fellow demonstrators on strike.
Alex Chubick, a student researcher in the human genetics department at UCLA, leads fellow demonstrators in a chant on the campus on Nov. 14.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Share

About 48,000 unionized academic workers across the University of California’s 10 campuses walked off the job on Nov. 14, calling for better pay and benefits.

The workers include teaching assistants, postdoctoral scholars, graduate student researchers, tutors and fellows and perform much of the teaching and research at the state’s premier higher education system.

They are demanding significant pay increases to afford housing in the high-cost areas where most UC campuses are located, child-care subsidies, enhanced healthcare for dependents, longer family leave, public transit passes and lower tuition costs for international scholars.

The University of California and its postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers reached a tentative agreement last month that would raise their pay to among the highest in the nation. But the workers did not return to campus as a demonstration of support for the approximately 36,000 graduate student employees who remained on strike.

On Friday, the University of California and the union leadership representing the 36,000 graduate student workers reached a tentative labor agreement. If approved by members, the agreement will resolve what had been the nation’s largest strike of academic workers.

Advertisement