Live updates: Student Researchers and Academic Workers strike across all UC campuses

Last updated: November 22, 2022, at 5:03 p.m.

The UAW 2865, UAW 5810, and SRU-UAW unions went on strike on November 14 at 8:00 a.m. at all ten University of California (UC) campuses and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as they called for increased pay, improved working conditions, and other demands.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) unions represent teaching assistants, graduate student instructors, tutors, and readers (UAW 2865); postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers (UAW 5810); and student researchers (SRU-UAW).

This strike comes after 36,558 UAW-represented workers from the three unions voted by a 98% margin between October 26 and November 2 to authorize the strike.

Nearly 48,000 UC graduate students make up the unions, causing significant disruptions across the UC system as the end of the fall quarter approaches. The UC system plans for the continuation of instruction and research throughout the UAW strike.

The unions are also alleging unfair labor practices that have occurred over the course of bargaining with the UC system. These include changing working conditions without negotiating, obstructing the bargaining process, and refusing to provide information regarding bargaining topics, among others. The UC denied these claims and stated, “We strongly disagree with the UAW allegations that UC has engaged in unlawful behavior.”

According to Adam Caparco, a postdoc in NanoEngineering and current Financial Secretary for UAW 5810, postdoctoral scholars have been in negotiations with the UC for about a year and a half, student researchers for about seven months, academic student employees for about eight months, and academic researchers since May 2022.

The strike is expected to continue until the UC system fully agrees with the unions on all demands being negotiated on the academic workers’ contracts. So far, agreements have been reached on some issues, including protections against bullying and abusive conduct, but many key issues, such as increased salaries and access to affordable housing, remain under negotiation.

The Triton will be reporting throughout the strike and providing the latest updates.

Day 5: Friday, November 18

1:44 p.m. update:

One of the organizers wearing a neon yellow-green traffic vest made a few announcements and led a chant before the march began.

“Who has the power?”

“WE GOT THE POWER!”

“What’s disgusting?”

“UNION BUSTING!”

Chants, drumbeats, and cheers filled the air as a long line of picketers carrying blue and white picket signs streamed off the field, around Tata Hall, and onto Ridge Walk before marching through Revelle College toward Scripps.

1:31 p.m. update:

A third picket line made its way onto Muir Field, and the sounds of a drumbeat and conversations filled the air as people waited for other picketers to arrive.

1:22 p.m. update:

Another line of picketers marched past Main Gym and made its way onto Muir Field.

1:08 p.m. update: 

A picket line from Revelle College marched around Tata Hall and headed to Muir Field to gather in preparation for a march down to Scripps. 

Picketers participated in chants such as:

“When I say ‘Treat us right,’ you say ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’“ 

“Treat us right!” 

“Fight! Fight! Fight!” 

San Diego Police Department (SDPD) and UCSD Police Department were present at La Jolla Shores Drive and North Torrey Pines Road in preparation for the march.

Day 4: Thursday, November 17

2:30 p.m. update: 

As Union members and picketers congregated on Sun God Lawn for their upcoming rally, attendees participated in the following chants:

“Shut it down! Shut it down!”

“Who got the power?”

“WE GOT THE POWER!”

“What kind of power?”

“UNION POWER!”

“Union!”

“POWER!”

“48,000 workers strong, we can fight all day long!”

Mariana Flores and Miguel Zazueta, a pair of married graduate students with UCSD’s Music Department and UAW 2865 members, kicked off the rally with an operatic performance of “Bread and Roses” by James Oppenheim and Mimi Fariña and “De Colores” by Nana Mouskouri.

This performance was followed by a speech made by Dann Russel, president of University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE). UPTE represents over 16,000 technical and professional employees at UC. Their members include but are not limited to, Staff Research Associates, Computer Resource Specialists, Clinical Lab Technicians, Social Workers, Writers, Museum Scientists, and Lab Assistants.

“We stand in solidarity with you all because you are fighting for the same thing that we are all fighting for at UC: fighting to keep quality public education and research happening [and] quality healthcare for the working people of California,” Russel stated.

During his speech, Russel also highlighted the UAW’s long history of improving working conditions in the United States.

“I’m sure that all of you know that you are standing in the proud tradition of your own union. Places like General Motors were not good places to work until UAW went on strike, sat down in their factories, and forced General Motors to become a good place to work,” Russel said in reference to the UAW’s 1936-37 strike.

Russel concluded his speech by stating, “Thank you for doing the same thing at UC and by reminding UC that it doesn’t matter how many Nobel laureates they have if they don’t have 48,000 academic workers doing the work in the classrooms and the laboratory.”

Following Russel’s speech, Rachel Dumas, an associate professor of history at San Diego State University, announced that the executive board of the SDSU chapter of the California Faculty Association unanimously pledged financial support to the strike.

Dumas also announced that the board plans to publish a resolution supporting the strike.

Union representatives gave the following update about contract negotiations: The Union was able to secure job title standardization for teaching assistants across all UC campuses.

Danny Heinz, a sixth-year Ph.D. student in the Biological Sciences Department and a member of the UAW-SAR, spoke to the crowd regarding the trials of simultaneously starting a family and pursuing a Ph.D. at UCSD.

“When I started my Ph.D., I knew I wanted to have kids, but we don’t make jack shit … For me to put off having a family, that is a crime. For me to be forced to put off having a family, that is a crime. So we decided that we are not going to accept that crime; we were going to have a family and we were going to work it out,” Heinz said.

“Sometimes, we have had to put off paying for health insurance because we could not afford the fucking premium. That is bullshit. Daycare has gone up — it is now close to $2,000 a month. We make it work; we scrape by because my wife put everything on her shoulders and makes it possible for me to pursue a Ph.D. She shouldn’t have to do that. I believe we should be able to have children,” Heinz said.

Heinz concluded his speech by stating, ”I am a sixth-year Ph.D. student, I hope that I will be gone from this place within a year. But there [are] going to be more after me and I want them to be able to have kids. I want them to be able to make the choice that I have made. And I hope, and I demand, that the University of California makes that possible.”

During this rally, union representatives also debuted a handful of new call-and-response chants such as “One day longer, one day stronger!” and “Strike for the long haul, we want it all!”

2:00 p.m. update:

A community alert bulletin was sent to all academics, staff, and students at UCSD stating that Voigt Drive and Matthews Lane have reopened.

10:23 a.m. update:

A community alert was sent to all UCSD students and staff that the intersection of Voigt Drive and Matthews Lane has been closed due to protest activity.

Day 3: Wednesday, November 16

2:27 p.m. update:

A community alert bulletin was sent to all academics, staff, and students at UCSD stating that Voigt Drive has reopened.

1:54 p.m. update: 

Academic workers marched in a circle at the entrance of parking lot P113, which is in front of the Old Student Center, but still let cars pass through. A smaller group of picketers lined up nearby, blocking the street entrance to the George Palade Laboratories for Cellular and Molecular Medicine. As picketers chanted and cheered, some vehicles that passed by honked in support.

12:05 p.m. update: 

A community alert was sent to all UCSD students and staff that Voigt Drive between Matthews Lane and Hopkins Drive has been closed due to protest activity.

8:00 a.m. update:

Picketing continues across campus as the strike enters its third day.

The Scholars Parking Structure entrance has been closed off by picketers once again today. Deliveries to Sixth College were also turned around.

Day 2: Tuesday, November 15

4:15 p.m. update:

A community alert bulletin was sent to all academics, staff, and students at UCSD stating that Voigt Drive and Matthews Lane have reopened.

3:00 p.m. update: 

Picketers from picket lines across campus congregated at Town Square, the open space between the Student Services Center and the Chancellor’s Complex, and held a rally featuring speeches from several union members.

Adam Caparco, a postdoc in NanoEngineering and current Financial Secretary for UAW 5810, provided rally attendees with an update on the negotiations with UCSD. 

According to Caparco, the unions and the UC resumed bargaining for the academic researcher’s contract on November 15. Caparco also noted that the union and the UC were expected to resume bargaining for the student researchers’ contract on November 16.

1:40 p.m. update:

Picketers blocked the entrance to the Scholars Parking Structure at Scholars Drive North and Muir College Drive. Cars were permitted to exit the parking garage, but could not enter. Picketers left by 2:00 p.m.

12:08 p.m. update: 

A community alert was sent to all UCSD students and staff that the intersection of Voigt Drive and Matthews Lane has been closed due to protest activity.

Picketers were seen circling the roundabout at Voigt Drive and Innovation Lane, blocking drivers from entering the roads. In the 30-minute span that The Triton was at the picket line, two FedEx drivers were turned around from the intersection. One of the drivers honked in support of the strike. Drivers, including UCSD vehicles, stuck within the closed roads were allowed to leave by the picketers.

10:30 a.m. update:

Picketers outside of the Applied Math and Sciences building in Muir College begin setting up tents for a live-in in the center of Muir College. When asked about the tents, media liaison and strike captain Jasmine Brown, a second-year math PhD student said: “The idea is two-fold, one: we can’t afford to live here so we might as well just camp out. And also two, we’re also trying to make sure we’re taking care of ourselves while we’re striking.”

9:30 a.m. update:

State University of New York (SUNY) Graduate Student Employee Union (GSEU) graduate workers announce in a tweet that they are standing in solidarity with University of California Grad students.

Day 1: Monday, November 14

6:00 p.m. update:

Executive Vice Chancellor Elizabeth H. Simmons sent out an email regarding the UAW Strike to all UCSD academics and staff that said UCSD remains in contract negotiations with the UAW, which represents academic student employees, academic researchers, graduate student researchers, and postdoc scholars.

Simmons further stated that “UC San Diego is prepared to ensure the continuity of learning and research during this strike” and that the administration has no plans to make changes to classes. UCSD has also created an FAQ with updates regarding the strike.

1:00 p.m. update:

The California Labor Federation held a joint press conference in front of Geisel Library in solidarity with the striking UAW academic workers over unfair labor practices by the UC system.

“What we are doing is we are making a crisis at this university,” Kanne said. “We want this university to be in crisis every single day until they stop their illegal bargaining behavior, until they stop their unlawful actions, and until they see us and bargain with us fairly over what we deserve.”

According to Kanne, the strike is the largest strike at a higher education academic institution and the largest strike in the country right now. This is the first time that postdocs are striking in American history.

Speakers included Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, the California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer, who announced that UAW members received a strike sanction Sunday night — which means that the 2,000 members and 1,200 affiliate unions of the California Labor Federation fully support the UAW in its Unfair Labor Practice Strike.

“That means the entire labor movement in California has acknowledged that this is a credible real strike and that they will, in fact, honor it as much as they possibly can and not cross the picket line,” Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher said.

San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer Brigette Browning, who was a student at UCSD during the representational strikes, also showed her support for the UAW strike.

Browning noted there is a disconnect in how the UC system, as the biggest employer in California, has their employees spending 50% of their money on rent and believes that the UC system should be setting the standard.

“You all [Academic workers] are going to change the planet first. You’re going to fix it. And you’re going to do all sorts of amazing things and I don’t think it’s ridiculous that you want to be able to pay your rent,” Browning said.

Additionally, Browning stated that academic workers who face financial difficulty can fill out paperwork to receive a hardship fund from the Labor Council.

San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair and Professor of Practice in Political Science Nathan Fletcher acknowledged that academic workers are workers who have the same rights and desires and deserve the same respect that every worker receives.

“I also know in talking to my own TAs over the course of this contract dispute that a lot of times you feel unheard,” Nathan Fletcher said. “Know that there are thousands and thousands of us out there, leaders in the community, elected officials, faculty members, and others who see you, who recognize you, who respect you, and we stand with you until this is settled and you are treated with the respect you deserve.”

After several rounds of the “Shut it down!” chant, Rafael Jaime, the president of UAW 2865 who also works as a teaching assistant, a tutor, and a reader, took the podium.

Jaime emphasized that even though academic workers form the backbone of the University, they are paid so little that they go hungry, live in their cars, and are regularly pushed out of academia.

“The University has so far been bargaining in bad faith, breaking the law, stalling and bargaining, and preventing us from reaching fair agreements that could actually transform this university,” Jaime said.

Right now, the academic workers’ livelihoods are up to the University, and academic workers will keep striking until the University agrees to bargain.

“We do have an opportunity right here … to force the University to come to the bargaining table and make real proposals that address our wages so that we have wages to keep up with the cost of living, give us protections in the workplace, and then give us dignity in the workplace so that we can live and work with dignity here,” Jaime said.

Following another chant, Kanne reemphasized that student workers, researchers, and postdocs withhold their labor to remind the University that academic workers help make the University run and to advocate for a living wage.

“It’s hard. I love my research. I do. I study mathematics and coding theory for those who are curious. But I don’t have the opportunity to do my best research if the University doesn’t pay me enough to live in a decent and fair way. And because of that, I am walking out,” Kanne said.

Student researcher Anoop Praturu shared that his house flooded with sewage last spring and he had to find a new place to live. He found out that he could not afford to live anywhere because of how expensive rent became after the UC system and other landlords doubled the cost of rent. As a result, Praturu was homeless for two months and lived out of his car and on friends’ couches. During this time, he got COVID, and his transient precarious living conditions prolonged his recovery. When Praturu finally found a place to live, he had to drive an hour to and from UCSD.

“I’m spending more than half of my rent, half of my paycheck on rent … I can’t afford food. At the end of every month, I have nothing, I have less than nothing,” Praturu said.

Praturu stated that as a public institution, the University of California has a responsibility to serve the public and an obligation to build a diverse academic workforce, but the UC system cannot do that if they do not pay academic workers a livable wage.

“How can you serve your public when you don’t give your public anything? This fight is about more than wages. This fight is about more than dignity. It’s about more than the environment. It’s about more than diversity. For academic workers, this is a fight for survival, and this is a fight that we’re going to win,” Praturu said.

Postdoc Vidya Ganapathy, who works in neuroscience and recently joined postdoc bargaining, noted that the way that academic workers in a large institution like the UC system are treated is appalling.

“It’s been heartbreaking to see postdocs being pushed out of academia, people with children not being able to make rent, and people leaving academia. The workforce is leaving. This is not benefiting any of us,” Ganapathy said.

Ganapathy shared that she joined academia because she wanted to do something she loved while earning a decent living wage, but she spent all of the money she had saved up when she moved to San Diego in April.

“I want to be here. I want to be here and I would much rather be doing research. I would much rather be doing things that I want to do in the lab,” Ganapathy said. “But I’m forced to be here. We are all forced to be here. None of us want to be out here on strike but we have to because the UC is not willing to meet us and give us what we deserve.”

12:53 p.m. update:

SRU-UAW bargaining team representative and Computer Science student researcher Amy Kanne announced that the student researchers union is going back into bargaining at 2:00 p.m. and also encouraged everyone to keep showing up every day.

“This only works if all of us stay out every day,” Kanne said. “If we give up, we are never getting a deal that we want but if we stand shoulder to shoulder every single day, we will win.”

In the minutes leading up to the press conference, the sound of people chanting reverberated throughout the crowd.

“Who’s got the power?”

“WE GOT THE POWER!”

“What do we want?”

“FAIR CONTRACTS!”

“When do we want it?”

“NOW!”

“UC, UC you can’t hide. We can see your greedy side.”

“UC, UC you can’t hide. We can see your greedy side.”

12:36 p.m. update:

A picketing line of people carrying blue and white posters marched from UC San Diego’s Warren College and gathered in a circle in front of Geisel Library before the 1:00 p.m. press conference.

“When I say ‘Union,’ you say ‘Power!’”

“Union!”

“POWER!”

“Union!”

“POWER!”

More picketing lines made their way from Library Walk and from the stairs of Sixth College to join the crowd surrounding the Silent Tree amid cheers and chants such as “Shut it down! Shut it down!” and “Union Power!”

9:00 a.m. update:

Washington Post labor reporter Lauren Gurley confirmed with Teamsters that nearly all UPS drivers in California may choose to refuse delivery to the UC system during the UAW strike.

8:00 a.m. update:

Academic workers formed picket lines near the Applied Physics & Math Building in Muir College, the Ridgewalk Academic Complex in Sixth College, the Warren Bear in Warren College, and other locations on the UCSD campus. Individuals marched together, chanting and carrying blue and white poster signs that read “UAW ON STRIKE UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE.”

Elizabeth Peng is the News Editor for The Triton. Liam Winstead is an Assistant News Editor for The Triton. Tate McFadden is the Arts and Culture Editor and the Opinion Editor for The Triton. Sarah Naughten is the Managing Editor for The Triton.