The largest union in the University of California system has voted to authorize a strike.
AFSCME Local 3299 says their members pay has remained flat even as executives within the system have seen pay raises.
“To make matters worse, UC has awarded raises to its highest-paid executives while offering its AFSCME-represented workers UC’s lowest-paid career workers flat wages, benefit cuts, and more outsourcing of jobs," the union said. “UC has also been unresponsive to the union’s requests for career advancement programs. For service workers, this week’s vote authorized a strike to protest stalled negotiations while patient care workers authorized a sympathy strike in solidarity.”
The strike also comes 2 weeks after 18 people were arrested during a protest after a study revealed worsening gender and racial income disparities in the University of California system. The union represents more than 25,000 workers in the system.
“With contract negotiations and post-impasse mediation procedures being exhausted after a year of bargaining, AFSCME Local 3299-represented workers at the University of California voted with 97 percent approval to authorize a system-wide strike,” the union announced. “The union has also called on speakers invited to participate at upcoming UC graduation events to support workers by boycotting university engagements until the labor dispute is resolved.”
The union is also calling on commencement speakers, like Senator Kamala Harris who’s due at UC Berkeley on May 12th and Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, who’s scheduled to speak at UC San Diego on June 16th.
Read more at Times of San Diego