As University of California graduate student union leaders and supporters celebrated Saturday the ratification of a new labor agreement that ended a historic strike, the vote also exposed a sharp divide among campuses.
The agreement was approved by separate units of United Auto Workers — with SRU-UAW representing graduate student researchers and UAW 2865 representing teaching assistants, tutors and other student academic workers. Overall, about 68% of graduate student researchers voted in favor of the agreement to secure their first UC contract while about 61% of teaching assistants and other student academic workers voted to approve the agreement.
“This is a fight that’s going to continue. We’re not done,” said Mark Woodall, a UC Merced PhD candidate in physics and chair of his UAW 2865 campus unit. “This has really invigorated people in a way who feel very disappointed in the outcome.” For opponents, however, the wage gains offered under the contract were insufficient to address the burdensome housing costs that workers often have to contend with in order to live near a UC campus.
Proponents saw the higher pay as an acknowledgment of the high cost of living in those communities and of the fact that the schools tend to offer higher pay to compete for top talent. Union leaders said they felt the strike and the broader effort to secure a contract had resulted in a stronger union in which workers are more engaged. They said there was higher participation in the ratification vote than any previous vote.
Opponents of the agreement also said they felt well positioned to continue pushing for change. They noted that they had successfully mobilized statewide to encourage thousands of workers to vote no on the contract.
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