Currently, graduate student researchers work part-time under either a faculty member or principal investigator, studying everything from the genetics of aging to Mars’ atmosphere. They earn between $1,780 and $3,488 monthly, according to data from the UC Office of the President, along with a stipend to pay for UC-provided healthcare. The campaign submitted more than 10,000 signed authorization cards representing about 60% of graduate student researchers from all 10 campuses and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Erika Cervantes, a UC spokesperson, said the university was agnostic about the unionization effort.
“UC values its graduate student researchers and their many contributions to the University,” she said. “UC neither discourages nor encourages unionization. UC supports employees’ right to choose for themselves and to make an informed decision.”
That’s a change from just a few years ago, when the system opposed an effort to define graduate student researchers as employees. Graduate student researchers only received the right to unionize in 2017, when the California Legislature passed a law allowing them to be considered employees, as teaching assistants and tutors already were...
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