As Strike Looms, State Lawmakers Condemn UC’s Treatment of Low Wage Workers

Posted On May 4th, 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MAY 4, 2018
CONTACT: JOHN DE LOS ANGELES | [email protected] | 650-438-1961

University Service Workers Mount Statewide Strike May 7th-9th


(OAKLAND, CA) – As the University of California lobbies State lawmakers for an extra $140 million in taxpayer dollars, State Legislators said in a letter sent Friday that they denounced the University’s failure to address the concerns of thousands of its lowest wage workers on the verge of strike.

“As the largest employer in California, and the recipient of more than $3 billion in taxpayer dollars, the University of California has a responsibility to lift up all boats,” said Assembly Appropriations Committee Chair Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) and two dozen other legislators who co-signed the letter. “Continued inequities at the University will have an adverse effect on the wages of California workers outside the University’s payrolls.”

In particular, legislators blasted UC’s recent decision to bypass collective bargaining and impose “harsh terms on its lowest paid frontline workers”—including higher healthcare premiums, an older retirement age, and more outsourcing of jobs.

UC’s actions also led AFSCME Local 3299, the union representing over 9,000 of UC’s Service workers, to call for a May 7-9 strike. Sympathy strikes have also been authorized by AFSCME Local 3299’s 15,000+ Patient Care workers as well as 14,000 UC nurses represented by the California Nurses Association, and 15,000 technical workers represented by the University Professional and Technical Employees.

The labor dispute comes in a year that has already seen three state audits that sharply criticize UC’s financial and outsourcing practices, and in the wake of new research that has revealed widening income, racial, and gender gaps for UC’s most vulnerable workers.

California State Auditor Elaine Howell announced earlier this week that UC President Janet Napolitano’s office has not yet fully complied with required fixes to budgeting practices that allowed UC to amass a secret $175 million slush fund while awarding excessive salaries, perks, and golden parachutes to executives. The payroll share of UC’s top administrators grew by 64 percent since 2005.

“They’re driving inequality by outsourcing middle-class jobs and they’re funding it off the backs of students and workers,” said AFSCME Local 3299 President Kathryn Lybarger. “The taxpaying communities that this institution claims to serve deserve better.”

Strike Dates: Monday, May 7th to Wednesday, May 9th
Picket Times, Locations, Rally Schedule, and Expected Dignitaries:

UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center

  • Picket Time: 5:00am – 8:00pm
  • Address: 757 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA
  • Rally Time: 12:00pm
  • Expected Dignitaries: TBD
  • Press Contact: John de los Angeles (650-438-1961, [email protected]

UCLA Campus

  • Picket Time: 5:30am – 9:00pm
  • Address: 308 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA
  • Rally Time: 12:00pm
  • Expected Dignitaries: Representatives of Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles)
  • Press Contact: Jeff Rogers (909-263-7230, [email protected]

UCSF Parnassus Campus

  • Picket Time: 6:00am – 8:00pm
  • Address: 505 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA
  • Rally Time: 12:00pm
  • Expected Dignitaries: California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, Representatives of U.S. Senator Kamala Harris
  • Press Contact: Todd Stenhouse (916-397-1131, [email protected])

UCSD Jacobs Medical Center

  • Picket Time: 6:00am – 8:00pm
  • Address: 9300 Campus Point Drive, La Jolla, CA
  • Rally Time: 12:00pm
  • Expected Dignitaries: TBD
  • Press Contact: Justin Lee (510-214-2269, [email protected])

UC Davis Medical Center

  • Picket Time: 6:00am – 8:00pm
  • Address: 2315 Stockton Boulevard, Sacramento, CA
  • Rally Time: 12:00pm
  • Expected Dignitaries: Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego), Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), Assemblymember Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond), Assemblymember Jose Medina (D-Riverside), Labor Council for Latin American Advancement President Desiree Rojas
  • Press Contact: Cherie Parker (619-806-4677, [email protected])

UC Irvine Medical Center

  • Picket Time: 5:30am – 8:00pm
  • Address: 101 The City Drive S, Orange, CA
  • Rally Time: 12:30pm
  • Expected Dignitaries: TBD
  • Press Contact: David Kreisman (847-209-6243, [email protected])

UC Berkeley Campus

  • Picket Time: 5:00am – 8:00pm
  • Address: 2495 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA
  • Rally Time: 12:00pm
  • Expected Dignitaries: Representatives of Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), Assemblymember Bill Quirk (D-Hayward), Berkeley School Board Member Judy Appel, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin, Berkeley Councilmember Kriss Worthington, Berkeley Councilmember Cheryl Davila
  • Press Contact: Rachel Warino (510-499-7188, [email protected])

UC Santa Cruz Campus

  • Picket Time: 5:00am – 7:00pm
  • Address: 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA
  • Rally Time: 12:00pm
  • Expected Dignitaries: TBD
  • Press Contact: Mary Virginia Watson (210-677-5046, [email protected])

UC Santa Barbara Campus

  • Picket Time: 5:00am – 5:00pm
  • Address: 552 University Road, Santa Barbara, CA (at Storke Tower)
  • Rally Time: 12:00pm
  • Expected Dignitaries: TBD
  • Press Contact: Jashua Bane (213-841-8490, [email protected])

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