More than 40,000 UC workers are threatening to go on a statewide strike at campuses, restaurants and hospitals.
The union that represents more than 40,000 workers across campuses and medical centers at the University of California announced Wednesday that it will launch an open-ended strike next month unless its contract demands are met, opening the possibility of delayed medical procedures, limited cleaning of hospitals and campuses and reductions in freshman dining services.
Membership of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees 3299 (AFSCME) union includes essential workers including janitors, food service workers in campus dining halls and hospital cafeterias, farmers, and skilled trades workers including plumbers and electricians. In hospitals, employees work as patient care workers such as radiology technicians, nursing assistants and patient transporters.
The union wants higher wages and lower health care costs as workers struggle with the cost of living in the more expensive communities where most of UC’s campuses and hospitals are located, including Westwood, La Jolla, San Francisco, Santa Barbara and Irvine.
The strike will have a major impact on UC operations, and will be the largest system-wide work stoppage since 48,000 unionized academic workers — including teaching assistants, students, and undergraduates — went on strike for about six weeks in 2022.
Last November, UC reached contract agreements to avert strikes by 21,000 health care, research and technology professionals in the University and Professional Employees union and 25,000 members of the California Nurses Association. In March, the 28,000 School Workers represented by UAW 4811 also approved a new contract.
But negotiations between UC and AFSCME, which often oppose UC Board of Regents meetings and events with UC President James B. Milliken, have become strained. The union has called several one-day or multi-day strikes in recent years but has not stopped open work.
The union said some members tend to fall behind on rent and take long trips to find affordable housing near work, while others sleep in cars. The union is also calling for access to UC-administered housing programs, such as below-market mortgages available to certain faculty and senior staff.
In a statement, UC labor relations spokeswoman Heather Hansen said the university is “disappointed” by the strike decision “despite significant progress at the bargaining table. The University of California remains focused on reaching an agreement that delivers real, immediate benefits to employees and is sustainable over the long term.”
Since negotiations began in January 2024, Hansen said UC has significantly increased its salary increase offers and added a $1,000 contract confirmation bonus. He showed The Times a proposed salary chart showing potential long-term increases for two categories of workers.
A “super custodian,” for example, now makes $70,789, a salary that could rise to $89,201 by 2029, under the UC grant. “Hospital technician 3,” now earns $88,200.00, which could rise to $111,139.76 under the final UC offer. Union leaders say UC’s offer will still leave members as a whole with incomes left behind after long-term inflation.
“UC is also adding long-term payments for long-serving employees, as well as new caps and offsets to help manage rising health care costs. This shows a big move and an honest effort to respond directly to employee priorities,” Hansen said. He said “an open strike is unnecessary and risks disruption to patients, students, and facility operations.”
The union said it is planning the strike after filing two malpractice charges against UC at the Public Employment Relations Board.
One accuses UC of violating labor laws by not negotiating with the union about its demand for housing benefits. Employees “should not have to live out of their cars, work multiple jobs, or commute long hours each day to put food on the table, while UC issues low-interest loans and cash to pay off its wealthiest executives,” the union wrote to the board.
Another lawsuit accuses UC of making “unilateral changes to the terms and conditions of employment” for union members. Last July, the university said it would automatically raise wages for its lowest-paid employees, bringing them up to $25 an hour or a 5% raise — whichever is higher. UC said it took the step after presenting its “last, best and final offer.”
In its presentation, the union said the action was carried out in a “scattered manner” and hundreds of workers did not receive or waited months for a raise. The union also alleged that UC is setting new health care rates without a chance to bargain.
The board has yet to decide whether UC did wrong.
AFSCME 3299 President Michael Avant, who works as a patient transporter at UC San Diego Medical Center, joined union leaders to announce the strike during an event Wednesday at the UC San Francisco Mission Bay campus.
“We want millions of dollars in salaries as they are given by the management,” said Avant. “We want the free homes that the chancellors are offering. We are asking the third employer in California to negotiate with us in good faith. We know it will disrupt our students and patients. That is why we are announcing this action a month in advance, so that our students and patients can prepare and plan ahead.”
The union has about 9,500 members at UCLA. Among them is UCLA Medical Center health care worker Monica Martinez, who spoke to Avant.
“As a single mom, I thought I could finally quit my second job … but the housing market had a different idea,” said Martinez, who is the union’s vice president of patient care. “Rent quickly became difficult. I made things work by living with my sister. Recently, my son and his young family moved in to help with expenses. UC took my job away by refusing to discuss housing at the negotiating table.”
