A UC systemwide strike will likely be averted after UAW and the University of California reached a tentative agreement Friday after seven months of negotiations.
UAW 4811, the union that represents 48,000 student employees, postdocs and academic researchers across the UC system, announced the tentative agreement in an email Friday night.
Workers will vote on the proposed contract between Tuesday, March 17 and Friday, March 20.
Union officials representing UAW’s Student Services and Advising Professionals and Research and Public Service Professionals sector also reached a tentative agreement with the UC system. These contracts — separate from UAW 4811 — provide minimum raises of 27.8% raises over the next four years through the creation of a new “step wage system.”
Additionally, SSAPs and RPSPs may gain protections on health insurance premium increases, job security, hybrid and remote work and “measures to prevent unreasonable workloads.”
“With this Tentative Agreement, Academic Student Employees have compelled management to side with workers and not with Trump,” said the UAW 4811 ASE Bargaining Committee in an email. “This TA delivers on the priorities ASEs have fought for including job security, immigration protections, and fair and stable pay.”
The tentative agreement includes raises ranging from 12% to 45% for teaching assistants and graduate student researchers, while hourly workers could receive raises averaging 21% and reaching up to 62% over the duration of the contract.
Additionally, the contract would create a $400,000 legal consulting fund for international workers, guarantee the right for workers to be rehired after losing and regaining their visa statuses and ensure “non-collaboration with ICE.”
The UC Office of the President did not immediately respond to a request for comment as of press time.
Union leaders credited the agreement to organizing efforts by thousands of workers across the UC system, including a “last chance” practice picket Thursday across the UC system, during which thousands of union members rallied ahead of the now-averted strike decision.
“Because tens of thousands of ASEs organized, took action, and stood together, we won a tentative agreement that sets a new standard for higher ed contracts across the country,” the email read.
Other contract provisions include increased childcare benefits, the elimination of pay disparities between UC campuses and the standardization of half-time appointments for Ph.D. and MFA teaching assistants and graduate student researchers.
A full draft of the tentative agreement has yet to be released.