Opinion: A month-and-a-half strike of graduate and part-time workers crippled the University of California system, another prominent example of the growing labor movement in the United States.
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In mid-November of 2022, 48,000 University of California academic workers, mainly graduate students, went on strike. Across all UC campuses, the United Auto Workers 2865 union — which represents academic student employees — demanded wage raises and more protections. The strike disrupted campus life as union members formed picket lines, refused to grade final exams and halted research projects. These workers were from four different groups of academic workers: postdoctoral scholars, academic researchers, graduate student researchers and academic student employees, which each form their own bargaining unit. As of now, the strike is the largest of its kind in history.
Willa Gibson, a second year undergraduate student at UC Davis and member of the UAW on campus, said joining the effort was “a no brainer once the strike vote got passed.”
A large reason why UC student workers have asked for more pay is the problem of being rent burdened, which means spending 30% or more on housing costs. The price of housing in and around UC campuses has continued to rise in a state where the cost of living is already 41% higher than average.
“I’ve never felt more proud to go to a UC,” Gibson said. “A massive community came together.”
Academic power on this level has never been wielded so strategically and with such a united front before. At most large universities, the labor of student and part-time workers is indispensable. This means that a vast majority of them going on strike completely froze many operations, especially for undergraduate students and research. With no one to grade papers for the large lecture classes or teach discussion sections, their strength was made clear.
On Dec. 23, 2022, after six weeks of striking, a tentative agreement between the union and the UC administration was reached. A two-and-a-half year contract was ratified, which included a minimum salary of about $34,000 for part-time employees and more child and health care benefits across the board.
“Our bargaining team has worked very hard to get us here, and [the contract] isn’t about what we deserve but what we can get,” Gibson said.
After the duration of the contract is up, the bargaining process will begin again, giving the UAW an advantageous position. The gains accomplished in the UC system have also had an effect on academia as a whole.
“It’s so cool seeing how this created a domino effect across the U.S.,” Gibson said. “A lot of schools are starting to feel more empowered.”
For example, part-time and adjunct faculty members at the New School in New York City went on strike on Nov. 16, 2022 for better pay and conditions. In response, the school threatened to cut their health benefits and to withhold their pay. However, three weeks into the strike, an agreement was reached, as almost 90% of the college’s classes are taught by untenured staff and many classes were completely cancelled as a result of the strike.
“The reality is that this is something we needed to do,” Gibson said. “It will make the UC system even better at educating its students.”
The amount of labor and care that graduate students and adjunct professors give to their students impacts so much about student life and they deserve to be properly compensated. Academia needs to change, whether the top administrators of universities like it or not.
Many economic indicators display that the labor movement is gaining momentum. The exploitative corporate status quo in the U.S. is getting its first real run for its money in decades. With these persevering students and workers leading the helm, the future will hopefully be ripe with solidarity and progress.
