Thousands in UC healthcare research and technical work vote on worker strike
Thousands of University of California healthcare, research and technical employees voted to authorize a strike on Feb. 14 for alleged systemic and ongoing staffing shortages that impact patient care and research operations.
University Professional and Technical Employees Communications Workers of America (UPTE-CWA) Local 9119 represents nearly 20,000 employees in research labs and medical facilities across 10 UC campuses. Workers include nurse case managers, mental health counselors, optometrists, pharmacists, physical therapists, clinical researchers, IT analysts and animal health clinicians.
The union said it called for the strike vote because the university failed to bargain in good faith in negotiations that began in June. It accused the UC of imposing restrictions on where workers can picket and complained of retaliations against some employees at UC San Francisco who engaged in a two-day work stoppage in November.
The three-day strike will begin on Feb. 26 and end on Feb. 28. It obtained 98% approval, with 9,000 votes counted in the first week of the strike vote.
The strike could affect operations at the UC hospitals, clinics and research at the UC on cancer, food safety, virology and climate change, among other issues.
Union officials said the UC improperly raised healthcare costs and refused to engage meaningfully in union discussions.
“We’re hoping this will send a message to UC about our members being fed up with these unfair labor practices,” UPTE President Dan Russell said in a statement, according to the Los Angeles Times. “We hope this will produce a change in UC’s behavior.”
For its part, the UC denies that it faces a staffing crisis, said it has offered robust wages and benefits and accused UPTE-CWA of prematurely leaving the bargaining table. The UC offered a 5% wage increase for the first year and 3% wage increase in the second and third year of the contract cycle.
“It’s disheartening that UPTE continues to talk about striking and insisting UC come back to the bargaining table when they didn’t show up for the last scheduled bargaining session and then declared negotiations were at an impasse before responding to UC’s previous offers,” UC spokesperson Heather Hansen said in an email to the Los Angeles Times.
UCLA chancellor condemns SJP for protest outside of Regent’s home
UC Los Angeles Chancellor Julio Frenk announced Feb. 12 that the university suspended two pro-Palestine groups at UCLA after an approximately 50-person coalition protested outside of UC Regent Jay Sures’ home on Feb. 5.
According to the statement, members of the groups Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine harassed Sures and his family in their Brentwood home, prevented one of Sures’ family members from exiting their home in a vehicle, vandalized Sure’s home with red handprints and caution tape and pounded on drums while chanting, “Jonathan Sures, you will pay, until you see your final day.”
“Whenever an act of violence is directed against any member of the university community, UCLA will not turn a blind eye,” a UCLA spokesperson said in an emailed statement to the Daily Bruin. “This is true no matter what group you are a member of — or which identities you hold. There is no place for violence in our Bruin community.”
In a Feb. 11 Instagram post, SJP and Graduate SJP rejected UCLA’s decision to suspend the groups and said they will continue to demand divestment from companies associated with the Israeli military.
“To Julio Frenk, Jay Sures, all other administrators and regents lining their pockets with blood money — we are not afraid of you,” the statement read. “Your repression only emboldens us.”
The student groups were placed under an administrative review for potential violations of UCLA’s student group conduct code, Frenk said in the email, adding that their suspension will remain in effect during the review.
A version of this article appeared on p. 2 of the Feb. 20, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.
