UC strike enters third week ahead of finals
DAVIS — Following the Thanksgiving break, the University of California (UC) is met with academic workers entering the third week of a strike.
It's the largest academic strike in U.S. history and comes at a time when undergraduate students are wrapping up classes before final exams.
"It's very empowering," said Abby Ray, a fifth-year graduate student. "It's week three, so I'm glad to see we're still going strong."
UC and United Auto Workers say the bargaining table has seen progress for postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers.
But for 36,000 academic student employees and student researchers, the union says its heard crickets since its latest wages proposal.
"We're paid at half-time so 20 hours a week. I don't know a grad student that's worked less than 40 hours a week," Ray said.
Strike supporters come from former graduate student workers to undergraduate students.
"Being on the picket line and actually talking to the people that are living through things I lived through 15 years ago," said Greg Brennan, an associate research scientist for UC Davis. He added, "They are still making the same salary I made 15 years ago."
"We definitely support the strike, and we don't understand why the UCs aren't doing anything about it," said Aamrita Kishore, a first-year student.
While both parties reached dozens of tentative agreements, talks stalled over issues like tying wage and pay increases to housing costs, and tuition remission for nonresidential international students.
In a released statement, UC wrote "campuses are ensuring continuity of instruction and research in order to mitigate the impacts of a strike on our students."
Every day on the line means several classes are canceled or altered.
"One of my labs is actually self-taught now and I'm kind of back on Zoom if we want to but it's kind of hard especially with finals coming up," said Monzerrat Garcia, a third-year student.
Kishore said some finals will be multiple choice so professors can rely on computers to grade exams as opposed to student workers.
Academic workers say they want to get back to work but want to be paid and treated better.
"Our main message is academic workers across the state are standing up to the UC to win better working conditions," said Diana Sernas, a teaching assistant, graduate student researcher, and member of the bargaining team for UC Davis statewide in negotiations.
Academic workers held demonstrations up and down the state Monday including at the UC president's office.
If the strike lingers longer, the union members say they are ready to take their demands to the steps of the California State Capitol next Monday.
