Protests at UC campuses continue across state as citations issued to workers

ByTim Johns KGO logo

Tuesday, December 6, 2022

Striking workers protest at UC offices across state

Protesters disrupted meetings of UC officials across California on Monday to demand better wages, benefits and non-residential supplemental tuition.

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Intense moments at one of the offices of the University of California president in Oakland on Monday.

After staging a sit-in for three hours, a group of protesters disrupted a meeting of university officials to make their voices heard.

"We were deeply frustrated by the silence that we were faced with when we compelled key decisionmakers to escalate this issue and elevate it to the president," said protester Mia Antezzo.

The demonstrators were part of a group of UC workers protesting across the state as a part of a strike now in its fourth week.

"Significant increases on our wages. We're asking for childcare benefits. We're asking for waiving non-residential supplemental tuition," Antezzo said.

The workers are demanding that the UC administration resume bargaining negotiations with a union that represents about 48,000 academic workers, including postdocs and researchers.

"We still haven't seen the UC come to the table and negotiate in good faith and make real concessions at the bargaining table like we have," said Antezzo.

For its part, the university says they've conducted over 50 bargaining sessions with the union since the spring and have secured 95 tentative agreements on a variety of issues.

They say their proposals would place the employees at the top of the pay scale across major public universities around the country.

In a statement sent to ABC7 News, they expounded by saying that their proposals are fair, reasonable and honor the important contributions these bargaining unit members make towards UC's mission of education and research.

But while the gap between the two sides remains, protesters say they're not going anywhere.

"We will continue to be out on the picket lines and continue to escalate this fight until UC comes back to the table to bargain with us," Antezzo said.