STRIKE by 48,000 Academic Workers at the University of California

 

This Year's Biggest Strike Is by 48,000 Academic Workers at the University of California

Across the prestigious University of California system, tens of thousands of workers walked off the job Nov.14, 2022 week for the nation’s largest strike of 2022, and the largest strike of academic workers in U.S. history.

The energy was palpable as nearly 5,000 academic workers gathered at UC-Berkeley’s campus November 14 to launch our strike. Any last-minute worries dissolved as I stepped onto campus and heard my colleagues, strike captains, undergraduate students, and community members chanting, “48,000 workers strong, we can fight all day long!”

Over the first week of our strike we shut down classes and lab operations, felt the solidarity from Teamsters drivers and building trades workers who honored our 5 a.m. pickets, marched with our students to the university president’s mansion, and showed the UC just how organized we are—and how ready we are to win big.

From UC Davis down to UC San Diego, our four bargaining units—teaching assistants, student researchers, postdoctoral scholars, and academic researchers—are demanding that the UC bargain in good faith.