On November 14, everyday life at the ten campuses of the University of California will come to a halt as up to 48,000 workers – postdocs, graduate student researchers, teaching assistants (TAs) and graduate student instructors (GSIs), tutors, and readers – go on strike. The workers, represented by UAW 5810, UAW 2865 and the newly-formed SRU-UAW, voted to authorize a strike this week. An eye-popping 36,558 workers participated in the vote, and 98% of votes were cast in favor of strike authorization. The three unions are simultaneously bargaining for four contracts, in a historic and massive organizing effort. And they’re asking for the public to give to their strike fund and join them on the picket line

Galen Liang is an international student in his second year of work towards a Ph.D. in mathematics at UC Berkeley. “We were already under severe financial stress before this period of inflation. Rent has been skyrocketing,” he told the Picket Line. “My base pay as a GSI is around $2,300 a month, which the department tops off to $3,000.” Liang explained. “We want to be paid a reasonable wage, and for pay to have only one source.” 

In addition to better compensation, the union is also asking for a better child care stipend. Liang points out that lack of good child care amounts to discrimination against caregivers, disproportionately women. 

The union has already had some victories, winning contract language which helps protect workers against harassment and exploitation. “Some chemistry and biology researchers have had to work 14-hour days in the lab – and the PIs still call them lazy!” Liang noted.

Liang says he and his colleagues are inspired by the recent strikes at Columbia University, and that they, in turn, hope to inspire workers at other schools. Liang is also inspired by the successful organizing by workers at Amazon, Starbucks, and Chipotle, to whom he feels a kinship. “Paychecks should reflect the benefits of a person’s work,” he said.

This article was excerpted from The Picket Line, the East Bay DSA Labor Newsletter .  Their online archive has the full article.

K12 Educators Take Note:

The three grad student unions struck together. To do that, one worked without a contract until the other contracts expired. Our K12 unions have more obstacles to coordination— but this is one way it could be done.