Academic workers ratified their contract with the University of California (UC) just before the holidays, ending a six-week-long strike.
United Auto Workers—the union representing UC academic workers—announced Dec. 23 its members voted to ratify UC’s contract for academic student employees and graduate student researchers.
On Nov. 14, 48,000 researchers and student employees across all 10 UC campuses launched a strike, demanding pay raises due to cost-of-living increases.
About a quarter of strikers from two bargaining units—postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers—reached an agreement with the UC Nov. 29 and returned to work earlier this month.
The remaining 36,000 strikers in the other two bargaining units—academic workers and graduate student researchers—reached a tentative agreement with the UC Dec. 16 and voted to ratify the contracts a week later….