The University of California’s largest union representing over 37,000 service and patient care workers is on strike for over Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs) by the UC, with workers engaging in pickets across all ten UC campuses and five medical centers.
Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3299 overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike last month after the UC increased workers’ healthcare costs by 9-11% and the union filed ULP charges with the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB). Today is the second and final day of the strike; you can read yesterday’s updates here.
This post, updated by members of our News Department, seeks to provide up-to-date information and developments about the AFSCME 3299 strike, and will be periodically updated. During the student walkout, the News Department will also maintain immediate, real-time updates on X (formerly Twitter):
Live Feed:
3:17pm — March leaves the Hill, picketers return to central campus
To chants of “Union power!” and “We run UC!”, picketing workers march back from the Hill. Workers move past Bruin Plaza, marching through Kerckhoff Hall and Ackerman Union to chants and the beat of drums.
Union members cheer as they circle back to Bruin Plaza and continue in chant: “Who’s got the power? We got the power! What kind of power? Union power!”
A speaker urges workers and students to “make some noise” as the crowd chants “If we don’t get no contract, you don’t get no peace!”
3:12pm — Ronald Reagan Medical Center pickets wrap up
AFSCME 3299 leadership said that the last march of the day at the medical center had taken place. University workers and students continue to march across the Hill, chanting “Whose university? Our university!”
3:05pm — AFSCME 3299 continues march on the Hill; UCPD arrives
As striking workers march up De Neve Drive, four UCPD officers on bikes arrive at the scene. Picketers continue to chant “If we don’t get it, shut it down!”
2:50pm — Striking workers begin to march; UCPD monitoring pickets
AFSCME 3299 pickets resume as workers, joined by students who had participated in the morning’s walkout, march west down Bruin Walk, towards the Hill. CSC security officers follow the crowd on bikes.
In a post to X (formerly Twitter), UCPD said that they were “monitoring a demonstration on campus.” The post said that the marches down Westwood Blvd were “potentially posing safety concerns” due to protesters entering the road.
Picketing workers are currently in Rieber Court, as speakers lead the crowd in chants.
12:30pm — SLAP organizers discuss student-worker solidarity
A media liaison for the Student Labor Advocacy Project told one of our reporters that student-worker solidarity is key to solving the problems that many in the UCLA community face, such as housing insecurity.
They observed that “a lot of us students are also workers, so there’s not just a divide… When career workers, when any union, when any workers win better working conditions on campus, it’s going to positively affect all of us. [With] the way that the housing crisis and Blackstone, which are really central to the union’s demands, are also really closely impacting students, as is the understaffing crisis… our interests are really closely interlinked.”
“At the end of the day, there’s really a lot of strength in numbers, and also that we have different roles at the university. As students, I think we have a lot of positional power… the university cares what we think and what we say.”
“And so I think leveraging that power to support workers and to win a fair contract is also going to benefit us as students… and together, we can win, like in past [instances] where student turnout has been really, really crucial to winning really, really strong contracts.”
11:48am – The walkout joins picketers on Westwood Boulevard
Marching down Westwood Boulevard, the students join the AFSCME 3299 picket outside the UCLA Health Medical Plaza. The walkout chants “We demand a living wage!” and cheers as it reaches the intersection of Westwood Blvd and Le Conte Ave.
A SLAP organizer leads the students in one final chant: “We are the students, fighting for divestment, and worker justice!” “The students, united, will never be defeated.”
11:38am – Students reach Bruin Plaza
Students pick up ULP signs from the AFSCME 3299 tents in Bruin Plaza to join the picket line.
11:08am – Students begin to march
An organizer with SLAP directs the crowd out of Dickson Court as students move to join the AFSCME 3299 picket. Students march through Bunche Hall and Boelter Hall/Mathematical Sciences Building, chanting and urging students to “walk out and join the fight.”
11:00am – Speakers address the crowd
A former student worker in UCLA’s dining halls details how the “struggles as workers and students are connected.” As they denounce the UC Regents’ bargaining tactics, two CSC security officers arrive at the scene.
A representative from the UCLA Divest coalition and UAW 4811 Rank & File then tells the crowd that “we will strike until we win,” uplifting AFSCME 3299’s strike and fight for divestment. The crowd, having grown to about 100 students, chants as the speaker says “Long live international solidarity.”
The last speaker, a health professor with UCLA Faculty for Justice in Palestine, describes the UC’s $4 billion investment in Blackstone in early 2023. She tells housing insecure students to “thank the UC system” for inflated rents and denounces the university’s investments in Israel’s war in Gaza.
10:40am – Crowd in Dickson Court North grows
As students continue to stream into Dickson Court North, participants chant “The people united will never be defeated!” and “Say it loud, say it clear, Blackstone is not welcome here!” About 70 people are present at the demonstration.
A former student worker in UCLA’s dining halls details how the “struggles as workers and students are connected.” As they denounce the UC Regents’ bargaining tactics and allocation of resources toward military equipment, two CSC security officers arrive at the scene.
Blackstone is a private equity firm that has been accused of exacerbating California’s crisis of unaffordable housing. AFSCME 3299 has campaigned for UC divestment from Blackstone and reallocation of resources towards workers.
10:30am – Students walk out of class in solidarity with AFSCME 3299
As AFSCME 3299 reaches the final day of its strike, students are walking out of class and gathering in Dickson Court North to express solidarity with the union. In an Instagram post by the Student Labor Advocacy Project (SLAP) of UCLA, joined by endorsing organizations that include UCLA Divest and SJP, the organization urged students to “show the UC that students and workers demand money and jobs for education, not for war and occupation.”
Contributing reports by:
Ella Mitchell
Ellis Wren
