Nearly 60,000 workers across UC campuses and health centers went on a one-day Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike Tuesday, April 1, alleging unlawful behavior and bad-faith bargaining by the UC.
University Professional & Technical Employees – Communications Workers of America Local 9119 (UPTE-CWA 9119) announced the strike in response to “divide-and-conquer” bargaining tactics and failure by the UC to negotiate health insurance costs. UPTE, which represents about 20,000 research and technical workers across the UC, accused the UC of keeping new titles “stuck in a separate bargaining process forever.” American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 (AFSCME 3299), which represents service and patient care workers, engaged in a solidarity strike with UPTE.
Both unions have been negotiating a new contract with the UC since 2024. Throughout the bargaining process, AFSCME 3299 has emphasized disparities between benefits given to UC executives and workers; according to research by the union, executives’ real wages have increased by about 50% since 2017 while service and patient care workers have experienced a decline in real wages. Both unions have condemned unilateral healthcare cost increases and alleged bad-faith bargaining practices by the UC.
Tuesday’s strike marked UPTE-CWA 9119 and AFSCME 3299’s third strike in just under 5 months, nearly two weeks after the UC implemented a system-wide hiring freeze in response to anticipated cuts in both state and federal funding. The unions’ previous ULP strike in February responded to the UC’s tightening of free expression policies, including restrictions on leafleting and the use of banners, canopies and amplified sound.
UPTE-CWA 9119 filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge this week over the UC hiring freeze, saying that it would further recruitment crises that can only be resolved by bargaining “in good faith with all UPTE members.” AFSCME 3299 echoed this statement in a press release, saying that the freeze is a continuation of the UC’s refusal “to make any meaningful investment in the frontline workforce that students and patients rely on to clean and secure facilities, deliver top quality patient care, and cutting edge research.”
Pickets started early in the morning, as hundreds of AFSCME 3299 campus workers started gathering in Bruin Plaza around 7 a.m., joined shortly after by workers marching from the Ronald Reagan Medical Center. The first picket began around 7:40 a.m., marching on Charles E. Young Drive North and briefly passing by the Chancellor’s Residence.
The size of the march grew as AFSCME 3299 workers marched through the Broad Art Center and across campus, returning to Bruin Plaza around 8:30 a.m.. While UCPD officers and private CSC and APEX security officials closely monitored the first AFSCME 3299 picket throughout campus on bikes, the picket remained mobile in compliance with UCLA’s Time, Place, and Manner (TPM) policies regarding marches.
As UPTE-CWA 9119 pickets continued near the Ronald Reagan Medical Center, AFSCME 3299 Medical Center and campus workers again merged pickets outside the Luskin Conference Center just before 10 a.m.. After marching across the Hill, the picketers filed into Covel Commons from the Epicuria entrance, packing the building on three floors and across its stairways. Chants of “Shut it down!” and “When we fight, we win!” echoed throughout the building. As AFSCME workers exited the building after about 20 minutes, they chanted, “We’ll be back!”
By 11:00 a.m., the AFSCME picket returned to Bruin Plaza and hospital workers returned to the Medical Center. A few minutes later, a UPTE-CWA 9119 picket similarly marched southbound through Bruin Plaza, chanting “All day, all night, UPTE on strike!”
AFSCME 3299 condemned UCLA for removing portable restrooms from campus and attempting to ban union organizers from campus. As they picketed on Tuesday, AFSCME marshals put up flyers across campus saying that “Just like Cesar [Chavez] and the brave farm workers, UC service workers will never stop fighting for our dignity.” The flyers also urged community members to call Chancellor Julio Frenk and say “stop playing dirty, stop union busting.”
Students joined workers as they picketed on UCLA’s campus and outside the Ronald Reagan Medical Center, carrying signs, cowbells and a large banner reading “Huelga.” Amy, a liaison for the Student Labor Advocacy Project and AFSCME Solidarity Campaign, told UCLA Radio that UC campuses are unique in that they have a “strong student organizing ecosystem that is very interconnected with union organizing.” They said that UCLA’s recent response to both student and worker protests underscored the need for a “united front against student and union repression.”
Amy noted that the UC could be using UCLA as an example, saying that UCLA’s stricter response to student and worker organizing could serve as a threat directed towards organizers at other campuses. Despite UCLA’s response, they said that the strike “sends a very clear message to the UC that [UPTE and AFSCME] stand united against the UC and won’t be divided by any bargaining tactics.”
In a statement released by the university, the UC said that the ULP strikes cost the university millions of dollars. As the bargaining process continues and UPTE-CWA 9119 proceeds with ULP charges regarding the hiring freeze, both unions have made it clear that they are willing and able to strike again. Organizers say that state budget cuts and federal uncertainty leave the UC with a choice: to prioritize workers in the bargaining process or risk more costly disruptions to its essential operations.
Contributing reports by:
Muryam Hasan
Caroline Pangilinan
Ellis Wren
