UPTE-CWA Strikes Over Unfair Labor Practices

Last week, 20,000 members of the Union of Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE-CWA Local 9119) walked off the job at several University of California (UC) sites in a three-day unfair labor practice (ULP) strike. Workers included physician assistants, optometrists, pharmacists, RN case managers, rehabilitation specialists, mental health clinicians, clinical lab scientists, staff research associates, IT analysts, and more. Strike locations included San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Sacramento, Riverside, Los Angeles, Irvine, and Berkeley, Calif.

Members cited the university’s unwillingness to engage in meaningful contract negotiations and the silencing of whistleblowers speaking out about the ongoing staffing crisis impacting patient care and critical research.

CWA President Claude Cummings Jr., Public, Healthcare and Education Workers Vice President Margaret Cook, and CWA District 9 Vice President Frank Arce all walked picket lines in support of striking members.

President Cummings spoke to striking UPTE-CWA workers, saying, “You see the impacts of short staffing and high turnover. Wait times at medical centers are much too long. Students have to wait weeks for mental health services. When senior researchers leave, progress on clinical trials stalls. The University of California should be focused on its mission of educating and serving the people of California, but instead they are spending billions on buying land and rewarding chancellors.”

Forty thousand members of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME Local 3299) also took to the streets over shared bargaining delays by the UC administration. AFSCME members began bargaining in January 2024, five months before UPTE-CWA. Neither union has reached a contract with the university.

Click here to read more about UPTE-CWA’s fight for a fair contract as reported in The L.A. Times.

 
CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. (above) and PHEW Vice President Margaret Cook (below) spoke passionately to the striking UPTE-CWA members, encouraging them to continue the fight. Both were joined by UPTE-CWA Local 9119 President Dan Russell. 

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This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.