A union representing about 40,000 UC employees announced Wednesday that it plans to strike indefinitely starting May 14 if the university does not meet its demands.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 represents service and technical patient care workers, including people who work in dining halls, residential buildings and UCLA Health facilities. The union has been in contract negotiations with the University since January 2024 and has struck five times since bargaining began, repeatedly alleging that the UC has failed to negotiate in good faith.
“For more than 2 years, AFSCME 3299 has worked to negotiate successor agreements that address the acute affordability crisis facing the University’s frontline service and patient care workforce,” AFSCME Local 3299 President Michael Avant said in an emailed statement.
The union alleged in an Instagram post that the UC illegally implemented increased health care rates for employees and refused to negotiate about housing benefits.The union’s contract demands include higher wages, staff retention and additional health care and housing benefits.
The University of California Office of the President said in a Wednesday statement that the UC has negotiated in good faith and centered employees’ priorities.
“Given the progress, we believe an open-ended strike is unnecessary and risks disruption for patients, students, and campus operations,” UCOP said in a press release.
Monica Martinez, the patient care vice president of AFSCME Local 3299, said in a March interview that the union planned to authorize the open-ended strike because the University has failed to address its core demands in negotiations.
“We’ve gone on several strikes, and I’m guessing they think they’re going to wait us out,” Martinez said. “But we need to demonstrate, and we need to let them know that we mean business”.
AFSCME Local 3299 alleged in a press release that the UC has the capacity to increase pay for the service and patient care workers represented by the union.
The UC has increased the total pay growth offered in its proposal to 32.3% and proposed health care plan caps and stipends to offset rising health care costs, UCOP added in the statement.
The union has a limited strike fund to assist members financially, according to a post on its Instagram account.
“UC’s lowest paid frontline workers have been priced out of the communities where they live and UC has not only refused to bargain over solutions, they have illegally sidestepped bargaining altogether to make our affordability crisis worse,” said Kathryn Lybarger, the union’s executive vice president, in the press release.
Contributing reports by Josephine Murphy, national news and higher education editor.
