Our Working Conditions
Stories of abuse and harassment shared by Academic Workers at UC San Diego during a protest against unjust firings.
Despite our contributions to UC, we work in difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions. Nearly 100% of graduate student workers and 70% of postdocs are rent-burdened, and those who live in campus housing are routinely required to pay more than 50% of their salaries back to UC for rent.
The extremely high cost of working at UC discourages everyone but the independently wealthy from participating, depriving society of the contributions and perspective of gifted, low-income academics.
We also face discrimination and harassment at rates high above the national average. A report released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine found that rates of sexual harassment and assault were pervasive throughout academia—second only to the U.S. military. These findings have been confirmed by internal membership surveys. Too many academics are being forced off their career paths because of UC’s intransigence on this issue.
Martina De Majo wrote about the bullying and abusive conduct she experienced during her first Postdoc at UCSF in the The Daily Californian. Her story is not unique, which is the reason that we are fighting to stop bullying and harassment and secure effective, enforceable and binding protections in our contracts.
