UAW 2865 and SRU-UAW Lower Wage Proposal, Face Backlash From Union Members

UAW 2865 and SRU-UAW, the unions representing academic student employees and student researchers, respectively, voted in favor of passing a new proposal Wednesday, November 30, lowering base wages to $43,020 from the originally proposed $54,000.

The proposal includes a 9% increase on all earnings in April 2023 and October 2023 for anyone paid above the minimum. Yearly raises were lowered from 7% to 6% and salary increases from experience-based steps were lowered from 5% every three quarters to 7.75% every six quarters. The full wage proposal is available here. The childcare subsidy was also lowered from the originally proposed $6,000 per quarter to $3,300 per quarter.

Word about the proposed package spread across social media beginning Wednesday afternoon. Numerous union members immediately criticized the proposal and urged the bargaining teams to vote against it. Members of the Department of Political Science at UCLA organized a letter that opposed the package and amassed over 1,800 signatures in under five hours.

The package was adopted at around 9:40 p.m. Wednesday in a ten yay to nine nay vote by members of the UAW 2865 bargaining team.

Shortly after adopting the package, the bargaining teams held a caucus with union members through a Zoom meeting. Several participants unmuted and voiced disagreement with the bargaining teams. Many attempted to chant “No COLA! No contract!” and tried to gain support from other union members to vote “no” during the ratification period of any future tentative agreement.

Approximately 15 minutes after the caucus began, the bargaining team transitioned to the bargaining session with the University of California.

Due to technical issues, most of the bargaining session was not broadcasted; however, the bargaining team later released a transcript of the sessions.

In response to the proposed packages, Nadine Fishel, Chief Negotiator at UC, thanked the bargaining team for the movement but stated, “We are disappointed that there wasn’t further movement that is realistic to get a TA [tentative agreement] to get your members back to work.”

Immediately after the bargaining session, another caucus was held through a Zoom meeting where union members asked questions and voiced comments regarding the package. The meeting filled to the maximum capacity of 500 participants within a minute after the Zoom room was opened.

Several dozen union members spoke in opposition to the lower wages, with many stating that they would continue to be rent-burdened if the current proposal was adopted.

Thousands of comments in response to the lower proposed wages flooded the Zoom meeting chat, with the vast majority of messages in opposition to the decreased wage proposal.

A minority of students spoke in favor of the package, arguing that movement had to be made to make progress in negotiations. Others voiced partial agreement with the move but wished the bargaining teams chose to lower base salaries to a lesser extent, such as to $48,000, instead of to $43,020.

The caucus ended shortly after midnight Thursday, December 1, with eight speakers remaining on stack to speak.

At 3 p.m. Thursday, about 75 rank-and-file members of the unions held a meeting at Price Center where they discussed their opposition and considered voting “no” if a tentative agreement was reached on the current wage proposal. A systemwide meeting will be held on Saturday, December 3, to further discuss opposition in conjunction with bargaining team members who voted against adopting the package.

The University of California stated during Wednesday’s bargaining session that they will respond with a counter-proposal “tomorrow.” A bargaining session was never held on Thursday, and no counter-proposal was presented. UAW 2865 and SRU-UAW are now expecting a comprehensive package for academic student employees and student researchers to be proposed today.

Liam Winstead is an Assistant News Editor for The Triton.