UC grad students go on strike to enforce higher wages

UC grad students throughout California protesting to raise pay, causing a disturbance as UC schools’ terms come to an end. Wikicommons

University of California graduate students and academic workers have been recently protesting for better pay, job security and other benefits, including child care subsidies and improved healthcare. 

Some of the included participants in the strike include teaching assistants, postdoctoral scholars, graduate student researchers and academic researchers.

Due to the higher cost of living in the state, graduate student workers are calling for higher salaries to combat these costs.

Writers Guild of American West published a statement from their organization board including president Meredith Stiehm, vice president Michele Mulroney and secretary Betsy Thomas.

“Too many academic workers are pushed out of the UC by unsustainable rent burdens, long commutes and insufficient support for working parents and international scholars,” the statement read. “The UC must be an institution that truly serves the public.”

However, the strike for higher wages for graduate students has been occurring since February 2020. During this time, students at the University of California, Santa Cruz called for a substantial wage increase, similar to the problems that UC graduate students are now facing.

However, as of Nov. 29, the University of California system and the academic researchers reached an agreement to tentatively put a pause on the strike. This deal must be ratified by a vote in order to come to fruition.

Letitia Silas is the executive director of systemwide labor relations for the UC system and was included in the official statement posted to the UC’s website regarding the agreement that was reached.

​​“Our dedicated colleagues are vital to UC’s research activities and we are very pleased to have reached agreements that honor their many important contributions,” Silas said in the statement. “These agreements also uphold our tradition of supporting these employees with compensation and benefits packages that are among the best in the country.”

The strike has continued into its fourth week and faculty members are now threatening to withhold grades in support of the strike. However, this raises concerns for undergraduate students who rely on their grades for financial aid and those that are planning on applying to further education after graduation.