Academic workers at UC have reached final agreement on new contracts which make historic gains in compensation, childcare subsidies and paid leaves, and include groundbreaking new protections against bullying and discrimination.

UAW 2865 (which represents more than 19,000 Teaching Assistants, Graders, Readers and Tutors) and Student Researchers United-UAW (which represents 17,000 Student Researchers across the UC system) have ended their successful strike and will be returning to their positions.

“This is a tremendous victory for not only the members of UAW Local 2865 and SRU-UAW, but for all academic workers,” says UAW President Ray Curry.  “Our members have rightfully won an agreement that will improve the quality of their lives, increase protections from harassment and discrimination, and help parents balancing the needs of family and work.  The entire UAW family celebrates this victory with them.”

“These agreements set a new standard for institutions of higher education across the U.S.,” said UAW Director for Region 6, Mike Miller. “Unions make sense for academic workers. Issues like low pay, unstable benefits and inequitable working conditions aren’t going away on their own. Unions give workers the tools to make change on those issues. We look forward to building on the strength of these new contracts to improve the quality of life for every worker at UC and other universities.”

UAW Members of Local 5810 at the University of California voted to ratify their contracts by overwhelming margins. The final count was 89.4% of Postdocs and 79.5% of Academic Researchers voting yes in favor of ratification.

UAW Local 5810 is the union of more than 11,000 Postdoctoral Scholars and Academic Researchers (Project Scientists, Specialists, Professional Researchers, and Coordinators of Public Programs) at all 10 campuses of the University of California and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

Under their new agreements, UC Postdocs and Academic researchers have won salary increases that address the soaring cost of living and reflect the value of their contributions at UC. Both Postdocs and Academic Researchers won 8 weeks of paid family and parental leave at full pay, and secured industry-standard setting protections against bullying and abusive conduct. The tentative agreements also include new rights for international scholars and for Postdocs and Academic Researchers with disabilities.

“This represents a great victory for not only these members but other workers in higher education as we continue to lift the standards for academic workers,” says UAW President Ray Curry. “These members showed their power to UC during the strike and brought home an agreement that was very strongly supported by their membership.”

UAW Local 5810 members along with members of UAW Local 2865 (Academic Student Employees) and Student Researchers United-UAW have been on strike since November 14. UAW Local 2865 and SRU-UAW members have agreed to a mediation process with UC. While mediation proceeds, they will remain on strike.

“Two important units representing over 35,000 academic workers remain without an agreement, and we stand by their decision to seek mediation,” adds Region 8 Director Mitchell Smith. “These workers deserve an equitable agreement that reflects their contributions as well as the reality that they work in high-cost communities. We urge the University of California to work with all parties to reach a fair and equitable outcome.”