Historic UC strike brings raises for student workers
36,000 teaching assistants, tutors get pact after 40-day walkout
The largest strike in the history of higher education is finally over — after 40 days.
A news release Friday announced that 36,000 academic workers in the University of California system had reached agreement on a new contract, officially ending a strike that upended an untold number of classes and the back end of the fall semester.
The vote by UAW 2865, which represents teaching assistants, graders, readers and tutors, was 11,386 to 7,097 to approve the contract. The vote by SRUUAW, the union representing UC student researchers, was 10,057 to 4,640, according to the release.
Workers are now set to receive significant pay increases, up to 80% for some of the lowest paid, and improvements to child care coverage, nonresident student tuition for international workers and antibullying measures.
“This is a tremendous victory for not only the members of UAW Local 2865 and SRU-UAW but for all academic workers,” UAW President Ray Curry said. “The entire UAW family celebrates this victory with them.”
By the end of 2024, the minimum pay for teaching assistants will be at least $36,000, with higher pay for students on campuses in particularly expensive cities. Graduate student researchers will make at least $40,000, according to union representatives.
Workers can get child care subsidies of more than $2,000 a semester.
Other benefits include fully funded transit passes, eight weeks of fully paid parental leave for birthing and non-birthing parents, and all campus fees waived.
Rafael Jaime, president of UAW 2865, said the salary increases and workcondition improvements included in the contract were a result of the tens of thousands of workers who joined the strike.
“These agreements redefine what is possible in terms of how universities support their workers, who are the backbone of their research and education enterprise. They include especially significant improvements for parents and marginalized workers, and will improve the quality of life for every single academic employee at the University of California,” he said.
The contract is effective until May 31, 2025, the UC President’s Office said after the tentative pact was agreed upon Dec. 16.
The strike began on Nov. 14 when thousands of student workers who walked off the job on campuses across California said they could barely get by on salaries of $24,000 a year for 20 hours of work a week while they pursue their studies. Though some departments pay an extra $6,000 to $10,000, many striking workers said they are struggling to afford high rents and had little money for food.
“I’m feeling great. This is something I’ve been organizing for years, and it feels great to finally have a contract,” said Tanzil Chowdhury, a graduate student research associate who works at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in material sciences engineering nanomaterials. “I think it sets precedent that we’re the ones that do all the work that makes the university function, and if you disrespect that and don’t give us what we’re owed, this is what you can expect to happen.”
Chowdhury, who served as a member on the bargaining team, said two of the benefits included in the contract he is excited about are the pay increases and the protections against bullying and harassment in the workplace.
“I’ve heard so many stories of people being forced out of their jobs because of rampant bullying and abuse, and I’m looking forward to fighting every case I hear of that with this new contract in tow,” he said.
Chowdhury told The Chronicle in November he makes about $40,000 a year and expects to pay about half of that for his rent on a 300-square-foot apartment in Berkeley. He said he knows many graduate student employees have it worse.
The amount of workers striking grew to 48,000 until 12,000 postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers agreed to a contact with the University of California, ending their strike and returning to all 10 of the UC campuses. That agreement is for five years and calls for pay increases of up to 20%, increased family leave, and lengthened appointments to ensure job security, according to United Auto Workers Local 5810.
However, there are some student workers, such as Robin Lopez, 33, who are not satisfied with the ratified contract. Lopez, a doctoral candidate in UC Berkeley’s Department of Environmental Policy and Management, as well as a graduate student instructor, said he was “disappointed and hurt” when he read the email announcing the agreement.
“I was in tears digesting what had just happened,” he said. “To completely disregard what student parents are fighting for in order to have a fighting chance to have a successful career trajectory is beyond disappointing. Many of us who have master’s degrees are being paid unlivable wages.”
Lopez said he currently earns $32,000 a year as a half-time teaching assistant working 20 hours a week. His department kicks in $9,000 of his pay, as it does for all its student instructors, and his base salary over 10 months is $23,000. About 86% of those earnings go toward his monthly rent of $2,300, for his housing in nearby Albany.
A parent of a 3-monthold and a 12-year-old, Lopez said the child care provisions included in the ratified contract do “nothing to help.” He says that, given the cost of child care in the Bay Area, it’s also hard for him to seek care for his children outside the university system, which he says amounts to a little over $4,000 for the entire year.
“We’re expected as parents to contribute to the UC system so they can rest on the laurels and prestige, but they don’t want to make sure that we’re taken care of,” Lopez said.
He noted that the child care tuition rate for the 2022-23 academic year is $2,720 a month. The new contract calls for a 27% increase in child care subsidies, which will eventually make make the total $5,600 (quarter system) or $4,200 (semester system) for the entire year in 2024. “Even if I’m lucky enough to get an opening for infant child care, then I have to bank on the possibility that maybe I would get a subsidy or tuition coverage from that.”
“The bargaining team could have done a much better job actually listening to rank and file members and let our grievances be heard,” Lopez said. “I think that not only was I screwed over by our employer, I was also screwed over by the majority of our team.”
In a media call the morning after the contracts were ratified, members of the bargaining committee celebrated the agreement, but recognized action in favor of workers across the UC system isn’t done yet.
“We might not have gotten every single thing that we might have asked for, but this is still a huge historic contract, and we’re just going to keep fighting,” said Emily Weintrout, a SRU UAW bargaining team member and UC Davis doctoral student. “Our power can only grow at this point.”