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Friday, February 24, 2023

Student-Worker Strike Repercussions - Part 8

There continue to be repercussions from the student-worker strike including protests of potential cutbacks in graduate PhD admissions and a legislative warning that the state won't come with added funding and that in fact UC may get less in the coming fiscal year than promised in the "compact" with the governor:

From the Bruin:

Around 100 UCLA community members gathered Wednesday afternoon at Murphy Hall to protest reports of administration-backed cuts to graduate student admissions in light of recently won wage increases. The protest comes two months after a nearly six-week strike across the University of California, in which a coalition of United Auto Workers unions representing more than 48,000 academic workers called for more equitable salaries, better working conditions and increased benefits. The strike drew participation from various academic employees, including student researchers, teaching assistants and postdoctoral scholars. It ended in late December with historic increases in wages for multiple bargaining units as well as improved workplace protections, alongside other benefits.

However, some academic departments across UCLA and at other UCs have recently notified their members that they will be admitting fewer graduate students to accommodate the increased wages, said protest organizer Jacqueline Perez, a social psychology doctoral student and member of the UAW Local 2865 union – which includes teaching assistants and graduate student instructors. Protest leaders demanded that the UC maintain current enrollment and staffing levels, ensure departments have enough resources to support the new contracts’ wage increases, and create a general fund supporting lab workers. They delivered a letter to Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Darnell Hunt’s office, walking from Murphy Hall to Haines Hall around 1:30 p.m. The letter was signed by UAW Local 2865 and UAW Local 5810, the latter of which represents postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers...


The effects of the strike were discussed at state legislative hearing: Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2, February 21, 2023. Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi discussed the effects of the strike settlement with UC President Drake. Subcommittee Chair Kevin McCarty then indicated that UC should not expect added funding from the state to cover the cost and may in fact get less than under the "compact" with the governor because of reduced budget projections.


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