On Sunday, the contract between the University of California and its Academic Student Employees, which include teaching assistants, readers and tutors, will expire.
The union workers, represented by the United Auto Workers Local 2685, are threatening to strike unless a compromise can be reached on some of their priority issues, which include child care, increased wages, improved health care and protection against unreasonable workload.
Without a new contract, academic life at UC campuses across the state could change significantly on Monday morning, if the union follows through on its threat to strike.
“If a strike happens, ASE would cease doing their work, and that includes discussion sections, office hours, grading, lecture, labs, etc.,” said Daraka Larimore-Hall, a UAW bargaining team member.
The UC does not have a specific plan in place in the event of a strike, said Nicole Savickas, a spokeswoman for the UC Office of the President.
A strike “is something that is going to have to be dealt with on a campus-by-campus and a class-by-class basis. Certainly, though, it will cause disruptions to students and staff in general,” she said.
Though negotiations to avoid a strike have been ongoing since March and will continue until the Sept. 30 deadline, the UAW has begun the process of filing dozens of unfair labor practice charges against the UC, according to a statement.
The union, which claims that the university has bargained unfairly, is demanding a compromise on issues such as more affordable health care and higher wages, the absence of which, it says, has adversely affected union members.
“We are saying that the people that provide hugely important services to the university shouldn’t be taken for granted,” Larimore-Hall said.
The University of California Student Association, which represents the more than 200,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students of the university, agrees with the union’s claim.
“What the UAW is fighting for is that there are a lot of graduate student TAs who are sacrificing a lot. We are contributing a service to the university, and we love to do this, but it should not affect our basic quality of life,” said Oiyan Poon, president of the UCSA, and a former TA and member of the UAW.
According to the UC, the union’s charges of unfair labor and bargaining practices are inaccurate.
“We are working hard to … keep our health care affordable and high quality. We share that concern to be able to pay our employees market-competitive rates, and we look forward to discussing this with the UAW at the bargaining table,” said Savickas, who added that the university will continue to bargain on good faith regarding the union’s concerns.