Recent Collective Actions
August 30 | FTVDM union members at UCLA delivery letter from majority of department
Union members in the Dept. of Film, Television & Digital Media at UCLA delivered a letter from a majority of the department in support of a fair contract that includes living wages and remission of professional fees.
August 18 | UCLA union members protest bullying, discrimination, and wage theft
Manny Mora, a UCLA grad student in MBI, was retaliated against after he spoke up about a hostile workplace and missing pay. Manny and his coworkers took action to condemn the Molecular Biology Institute’s failure to protect him from racism, discrimination, and wage theft. We delivered a petition to the chair demanding justice for Manny and strong protections for all academic workers in our union contracts.
August 18 | UC Irvine action against rent burden
Union members joined with Anteater Tenants at the ribbon cutting ceremony for a new UC housing complex, where many tenants spend 55% of their income on rent. Tenants and workers called on UC to agree to our bargaining proposals to end rent burden for all academic workers.
August 4 | Academic Workers at UC San Diego rally to support a Postdoc unjustly let go while 7 months pregnant
Over 100 UC San Diego ARs, Postdocs, TAs, and SRs rallied in support of Dr. Li Jiang, a Postdoc in Pathology who is seven months pregnant and was facing non-reappointment and the loss of her salary, visa and health insurance after she filed a whistleblower report on alleged data falsification in her lab.
Workers picketed in front of both entrances of the Pathology Department all morning. Then in the afternoon, about twenty workers marched into the Chair’s office and refused to leave until they spoke with him. Instead of agreeing to meet, the Chair called the campus police. But by the end of the day, the Chair said he believes that Li Jiang should receive a six month extension of her appointment.
CBS 8 San Diego ran a powerful and damning story on UC’s inaction on the crisis of bullying in higher education. The story features a Postdoc, a Teaching Assistant, and a Student Researcher speaking out about their own experiences with bullying.
July 28 | Plant & Microbial Biology Action Against Bullying at UC Berkeley
UC Berkeley Graduate Student Workers, Postdocs and Academic Researchers marched to the office of the Dean of Natural Resources to deliver a letter demanding recourse in response to a PI’s abusive treatment of lab members. The letter was signed by over 200 people (a supermajority of workers in the department), and successfully prompted the Administration to agree to open an investigation and to provide a new supervisor for the two workers most impacted by the PI’s actions.
July 11 | Chemistry Department Action Against Bullying at UCSD
Over 40 graduate student workers gathered to deliver their letter, signed by over 170 people in the department, to the Dean of Physical Sciences, and to demand concrete action. Chemistry graduate students are demanding accountability and an end to the bullying, abuse and harassment that goes unchecked in their department.
June 21 | March Against Bullying at UCSF
Over 45 Specialists, Postdocs, and Student Researchers at UCSF spoke out against bullying and unfair treatment by delivering a letter of support for their colleague to UCSF’s Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. This Postdoc at UCSF had endured routine bullying and toxic mistreatment from their PI, including verbal abuse, belittling comments, and denying them time off. When UCSF finally tried to terminate this Postdoc’s position without just cause, threatening their J-1 visa status, her co-workers sprung into action. In this powerful display of solidarity and support, workers showed how we can join together to address these urgent workplace issues with the administration.
June 1 | Rally for Year-Round Funding at UC Irvine
Grad student workers at UC Irvine marched and rallied to demand year-round funding for all UC student workers guaranteed in our contracts. At the bargaining table, SRU-UAW and UAW 2865 have made strong proposals for year-round funding that keeps up with the cost of living. This action urged UC to stop trying to circumvent negotiations over appointment security, compensation and summer appointments, and guarantee fair, year-round funding for current and future workers.
April 26 | United for a Fair Workplace Statewide Actions
Thousands of academic workers at every UC campus in the state took action against the UC administration’s anti-worker agenda. We took action to sound the alarm that UC needs to stop trying to claw back our rights and benefits, and instead reach fair contracts which actually address the severity of our current situation. Following the action, UC doubled their wage proposal for Postdocs. This development is not sufficient, but it signals that our growing collective power is moving UC in the right direction.
Press Coverage
Politico: UC WORKERS SPEAK OUT
San Francisco Chronicle: UC’s academic workers across California set for ‘mass protest’ of wages, working conditions Tuesday
San Francisco Chronicle: UC Student Workers Block Berkeley Intersection, Protesting Over Wages and Working Conditions
LATimes: UC academic workers block Westwood intersection to protest pay, policies
Daily Pilot (via the LA Times): UC Irvine postdoc students, assistants and researchers rally to demand ‘fair workplace’
LAist: Frustrated Over UC Negotiations, Student Workers Stage Protest At UCLA
San Diego Fox 5: UC San Diego students, staff protest over low wages
KUSI: UCSD post-doc students, assistants, researchers hold demonstration to demand fairer workplace
Daily Bruin: UC union workers rally for fair wages on Wilshire and Westwood Boulevards
March 11 | Action Against Workplace Abuse at UCSD
UC San Diego Postdocs, ASEs, and researchers, fed up with widespread bullying and harassment in their departments, marched to the offices of UC vice chancellors to demand an apology from one abusive faculty member and strong protections against bullying in our contracts. Following the action, we received letters of apology from the abusive faculty member as well as administrators.
February | Statewide Actions for Housing Justice
Throughout the month of February, Student Researchers, Postdocs, Academic Researchers, and Academic Student Employees took action on every campus to demand housing justice. In the face of generationally-high inflation, UC has refused to discuss a meaningful Cost of Living Adjustment or affordable housing guarantees. But we kicked off the Spring with large “rallies against rent burden” to show UC that is not going to cut it.
Press Coverage
More Perfect Union: UC SAN DIEGO CREATES A HOUSING CRISIS FOR GRADUATE STUDENT WORKERS
Liberation: Merced joins statewide UC actions to demand housing justice
Davis Enterprise: UCD student workers demand more affordable housing
Santa Barbara News Press: UCSB students protest against housing crisis
Santa Barbara Independent: Student Workers Demand UC Santa Barbara Address Housing, Rent Burdens
Daily Cal: ‘End rent burden’: UC Berkeley academic workers rally to address housing affordability
Daily Bruin: Labor unions rally to demand UC end rent burden, provide affordable housing
The Guardian: Graduate and PhD Students Protest at Chancellor’s Mansion Against Rent Burden
The Highlander: Student Researchers United rallies against rent burden
Daily Nexus: Student Workers March to Chancellor Yang’s Home, Demanding Affordable Housing in New Contract