This post was updated Nov. 22 at 9:32 p.m.
Hundreds of UCLA workers struck Monday and Tuesday, impacting UCLA’s dining halls, custodial services and medical facilities.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, which represents about 37,000 skilled craft, patient care and service workers, struck because of the UC’s alleged failure to present members with a fair contract. The union struck four times across the University during the 2024-25 academic year.
AFSCME Local 3299 has been in negotiations with the University since January 2024. Its contracts for patient care workers expired in July 2024 and those for service workers expired in October 2024. The UC Office of the President said in a Friday statement that the union has not presented it with a substantial counterproposal since April, despite “continued outreach” from the University.
[Related: UPTE-CWA 9119, AFSCME Local 3299 negotiations with UC remains ongoing]
Union members demonstrated at several locations during the two days of the strike – including outside of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center, the Hill, the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center and in Bruin Plaza.
[Related: AFSCME Local 3299 strike]
Steve Lurie, the associate vice chancellor for campus and community safety, said in an emailed statement that UCPD arrested four students wearing AFSCME Local 3299 shirts who were blocking a loading dock in the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and refused to move Tuesday. The students were not union members, he added.
The arrests occurred around 7:57 a.m., according to a UCPD Instagram story.
AFSCME Local 3299, multiple Undergraduate Students Association Council offices and several faculty associations sent an email to UCLA administrators Thursday condemning the arrests.
“Two rights are ironclad in California: the right of organized labor to strike when contract negotiations fail and the right of citizens to speak freely in public,” the groups said in the email. “This week, the University of California violated both.”
Multiple dining halls on the Hill were closed for the strike’s duration – with only Epicuria at Covel, De Neve Residential Restaurant and Feast at Rieber open for take-out service, as well as food truck options. Students formed long lines – some stretching out of the dining hall doors despite the rainy weather – due to the limited dining options.
About 500 union members – split between Bruin Plaza and the intersection of Westwood Boulevard and the Medical Plaza driveway – picketed at about 7:15 a.m. Monday. Crowds picketed on sidewalks and in crosswalks, holding signs and chanting, “Who runs UC? We run UC.”
While picketing was mostly confined to Bruin Plaza and medical center on Monday, 300 demonstrators marched past the dining halls on the Hill on Tuesday, starting around 10:30 a.m.
At 11:25 a.m. Tuesday, AFSCME Local 3299 demonstrators stopped in front of the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center – where the UC Board of Regents is meeting Tuesday to Thursday – chanting, “UC Regents listen up” and, “UC, UC, you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side.”
Two Contemporary Services Corporation officers blocked the side entrance of the Luskin Conference Center following the demonstrators’ arrival.
Michael Avant, the president of AFSCME Local 3299, said workers have lived “paycheck to paycheck” since their contracts expired, adding that union members are struggling to pay rent and purchase groceries.
“We shouldn’t have workers working here and living in a car,” he said.
Ashley Melendez, a perfusionist at UCLA Health and the member action team leader for her department, said housing near UCLA is so expensive it is “impossible” to own a home. However, perfusionists – who operate heart-lung machines duricng open heart surgery – need to live near their workplaces to respond to medical emergencies quickly, she added.
UCLA Health said in a statement on its website that although some facilities rescheduled non-emergency appointments, all of its medical centers remained open and operational.
“The contributions of all employees are valued, and their collective bargaining rights are respected,” it said in the statement.
AFSCME Local 3299 went on strike several times over the past year, but Melendez claimed the University has not improved its offer to the union – the contents of which she said are “insulting.”
In the past two weeks, the UC reached contracts with two unions that initially planned to strike alongside AFSCME Local 3299.
The University Professional and Technical Employees-Communications Workers of America 9119, which represents about 18,000 technical workers and researchers, called off its strike after reaching an agreement with the UC on Nov. 8. While UPTE-CWA 9119 did not strike, it encouraged its members to picket alongside AFSCME Local 3299 members during off-hours, according to the union’s website.
[Related: After more than a year, UC reaches contract with UPTE-CWA 9119]
The California Nurses Association, whose representation includes 25,000 nurses across UC medical centers, was originally set to strike in solidarity with AFSCME Local 3299. However, its UC nurses reached a tentative agreement with the University on Sunday and canceled its strike.
[Related: CNA reaches tentative agreement with UC, calls off Nov. 17 and 18 strike]
Kevin Gregg, another AFSCME Local 3299 member, said he and his wife are unable to afford to live closer to his work at the medical center. Gregg, who works in the interventional radiology department, added that he helps treat vulnerable patients from across the world, which can be “emotionally taxing.”
“We’re fighting for a fair contract so that – not just myself – but our fellow members can afford to live and have their basic human needs met,” he said. “Costs of everything have just exponentially gone up over the last few years, and the raises they give us don’t account for all of those increases.”
Avant added that staffing shortages – one of the union’s biggest concerns – have affected patient care and lead to staff having to “cut corners” in their work.
Andrew Martinez, a member of AFSCME Local 3299’s executive board, said staffing shortages make it difficult for UCLA workers to clean classrooms and run dining halls. A lack of affordability has forced some union members to sleep in their cars, he added.
Marielle Cruz, a second-year chemical engineering student said – even though reduced meal periods impacted her schedule – she believes students should support the striking AFSCME Local 3299 members.
“The people we should be mad at are the people that aren’t paying them enough,” she said. “The people that are taking the money from our tuition instead of putting it towards the people that take care of us.”
Contributing reports by Alexandra Crosnoe, Dylan Winward, Amanda Velasco, Sophia Pu, Amelia Chief, Nury Salazar-Ibanez, Julian Duaybis, Phoebe Huss, Rune Long, Zachary Turcios, Gemma Gentin, Kayleen Kim, Natalia Mochernak, Andrew Diaz, Izzy Grieg, Shaun Thomas, Izzy Becker, Patrick Woodham, Lilly Leonhardt, Ren Nguyen, Victor Simoes, Delilah Brumer, Alisha Hassanali, Ruby Galbraith, Joice Ngo, Karla Cardenas-Felipe, Max Zhang and Alexis Muchnik, Daily Bruin staff.
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