The union representing academic student employees recently ratified a new contract, ending the potential of a significant strike across the University of California system.
The contract approved Friday includes protections for international workers, childcare reimbursements, and raises for teaching assistants and graduate student workers.
“We are thrilled to have secured a contract that improves wages and benefits, protects international worker rights and defends our rights as workers,” said Rafael Jaime, President of UAW 4811. “In the months ahead, we look forward to working with UC to protect higher education, research funding and science itself from the onslaught of the Trump administration.”
UAW 4811 represents 48,000 student employees, academic researchers, and postdocs across the UC system including at UC Santa Barbara. About 89% of members voted in favor of the contract after eight months of bargaining.
A tentative agreement was reached on March 13, the day after demonstrations across UC campuses.
Reaching the agreements required trust, dedication, and partnership, said Missy Matella, associate vice president for Systemwide Employee and Labor Relations for the University of California Office of the President.
“We are grateful to achieve agreements that mutually benefit the University’s academic student employees and new staff units,” Matella said. “These agreements reflect the tireless work of the bargaining teams on both sides of the table that remained committed to productive, good-faith negotiations throughout bargaining.”
Graduate student researchers and teaching assistants will see raises between 12.41% and 44.96% over four years. Hourly workers could see raises up to 62% during the duration of the contract.
The contract also includes an immediate 35% increase in childcare reimbursements, and $200 raises in each subsequent year.
The new contract includes a $400,000 legal consultation fund to support international workers facing immigration concerns; a guarantee that the UC will notify workers when ICE is on campus and will not release workers’ immigration status; guaranteed rehiring rights for workers that temporarily lose their visa status and get it back; and up to three weeks of paid leave for travel for visa renewals or immigration relief.
Academic and research employees went on strike for six weeks in 2022. Union members at UCSB and other campuses also went on strike in spring 2024 over the treatment of students and workers protesting the war between Israel and Palestine.
Another Employee Union Still at Bargaining Table
While UAW 4811 ratified its contract, the union representing custodians and groundskeepers is still in negotiations. It has been nearly two years without a contract.
The union represents more than 40,000 custodians, food service workers, groundskeepers, patient care assistants and hospital technicians across the UC system.
“UC’s lowest paid frontline workers have been priced out of the communities where they live and UC has not only refused to bargain over solutions, they have illegally sidestepped bargaining altogether to impose dramatically higher healthcare costs — twice — and make our affordability crisis worse,” said AFSCME 3299 ULP Committee Chair Monica Martinez.
The union argues that workers have been priced out of neighborhoods and cities across the state due to universities not building enough housing for students. That forces workers to deal with long commutes or even sleep in their cars, representatives said.
Union leadership also claims that UC imposed increases to healthcare premiums without negotiating first.
“For more than three years, UC’s most vulnerable workers have fallen further and further behind waiting for UC to stop its serial lawbreaking and negotiate in good faith,” Martinez said. “If UC won’t, we are prepared to strike for as long as it takes to get them to change course.”
The union isn’t actively on strike and does not currently have a strike scheduled. However, the authorization from the unfair labor practice committee does mean that the union could go on strike if they feel that UC continues to not negotiate in good faith over these issues.
In January, the UC system put forward an offer with a 32% compounded wage increase during the duration of the contract and caps on employee healthcare premiums for certain plans, according to UC spokesperson Ken Stram.
He added that several other proposals that have been made since January and the University of California is disappointed with the authorization for an open-ended strike and the allegation that they are not negotiating in good faith.
“We understand that safe and affordable housing is a critical need for people across California, and as one of the largest educators and employers in the state, we feel that need across our student and employee communities,” Stram said.
“We also know that housing needs differ from person to person and region to region, making global solutions extremely difficult to achieve, let alone in the context of complex, ongoing labor negotiations. The University of California is committed across multiple fronts to addressing ongoing affordability concerns.”
He added that UC remains committed to good faith bargaining to reach a fair agreement with “generous wage increases and significant health benefits” for AFSCME employees.