Thousands Of University Of California Employees Join Largest Strike Of 2022, Seek Higher Pay

Weeks before final exams, thousands of academic workers at the University of California school system have gone on strike, seeking higher wages.

Nearly 48,000 graduate students, teaching assistants, researchers, and other university workers at California's 10 prestigious public school campuses are demanding a minimum annual salary of $54,000 and increased child-care benefits. Workers argue their current salaries aren't high enough to meet the expense of living in California.

The university workers have also accused the California school system of not bargaining in good faith with their union, United Auto Workers (AUW).

The New York Times reported that the university system has violated labor laws nearly two dozen times during negotiations, including directly communicating with certain groups of workers and changing working conditions without going through collective bargaining.

"At every turn, the university has sought to act unlawfully at the bargaining table, which is preventing us from reaching an agreement," Neal Sweeney, the president of UAW Local 5810, which represents more than 11,000 UC postdocs and academic researchers, told the Washington Post.

Almost 300,000 students are currently enrolled in the University of California system. Administrators said the system's 10 campuses will remain open.

"We're the ones who perform the majority of the teaching, and we're the ones who perform the majority of the research," Rafael Jaime, a doctoral candidate at UCLA and president of U.A.W. Local 2865, told the New York Times.

Many tenured professors are supporting the strikers and said they will cancel classes during the work stoppage.

The UAW says the strike is the largest academic strike in higher education in U.S. history.