Show your support for academic workers at University of California
UC President Michael Drake
48,000 Academic Workers-- Academic Student Employees, Academic Researchers, Postdoctoral Scholars, and Student Researchers-- are negotiating new contracts with the University of California. Instead of negotiating in good faith to reach agreement on key issues, the university has engaged in a wide variety of unlawful conduct. In response, the vast majority of Academic Workers at UC voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, which will begin on November 14th if the University does not remedy their Unfair Labor Practices.
Send a message to UC President Michael Drake that you are in solidarity with UC’s Academic Workers. Their fight for equitable contracts is a fight for the future of our higher education system. UC can avoid costly and disruptive strikes by ceasing its unlawful conduct and bargaining in good faith for an equitable agreement that makes a meaningful investment in UC’s diverse workforce.
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To:
UC President Michael Drake
From:
[Your Name]
Dear President Drake,
We are alumni, students, parents, and community members, and we all support Academic Workers in their fight for an equitable UC. The University must stop breaking the law immediately and reach fair agreements with the 48,000 Academic Workers whose labor powers this public institution.
Academic Workers perform the majority of teaching at UC, grade papers, and do the cutting-edge research that generates $8 billion in annual funding for UC instruction and research. They mentor the next generation of scientists and researchers, and their work drives innovation in areas such as medicine, computer science, agriculture, and green energy.
In recognition of their contributions to UC, Academic Workers are demanding:
- Wages that match the cost of living
- Sustainable Transit Incentives
- Support for workers with children
- Equity for international scholars
And more - we are demanding a fairer UC.
These demands are necessary to make careers at UC accessible to people from all backgrounds. Too many workers are pushed out of UC by unsustainable rent burdens, long commutes, and insufficient support for working parents and international scholars. UC must be an institution that truly serves the public, not one where the scholars who do the majority of the work struggle to make ends meet while highly-paid administrators live in publicly-funded mansions.
This is a fight for the future of our higher education system. Academic Workers’ working conditions are the learning conditions for the hundreds of thousands of undergraduates who study at UC. UC’s failure to support a diverse workforce sends a clear message about who belongs in science and education and who doesn’t. This must change.
Will UC be an exclusive university, accessible only to the wealthy, or will it be an engine of diversity and socioeconomic mobility for all Californians? We support the 48,000 Academic Workers who are fighting for the latter.
We demand that the UC bargain fairly with UAW to give these workers the contracts they need and deserve. The power to avert costly and disruptive strikes is in your hands.