UC graduate worker strike is over, officials say

Teaching assistants, academic researchers and other unionized academic workers picket at UC Irvine in Irvine, CA on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. Members of United Auto Workers 4811 participated in the strike for what they say are unfair labor practices in relation to recent pro- Palestinian encampments. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The graduate worker strike across the University of California system that began in May and stemmed from administrative responses to pro-Palestinian protests is over, officials say.

The strike was halted earlier this month by a temporary restraining order from an Orange County Superior Court judge that was set to expire on Thursday, June 27. When the temporary restraining order was issued on June 7 – right before finals began at some UC schools – the strike affected six campuses, including UC Irvine and UCLA, with more than 30,000 unionized workers.

Now, officials say the UC system and the UAW union have agreed to extend the temporary restraining order through June 30, the date through which union members had originally authorized the strike. Thus, the strike is over, a UC spokesperson said.

Graduate teachers and research assistants at UC campuses statewide authorized the strike in mid-May in response to what they said were unfair labor practices by the UC system related to how the administration responded to Palestinian solidarity encampments and protests at multiple UC campuses. The union argues that UC administrators unilaterally applied unfair labor practices by issuing suspensions to student workers without proper notices or hearings and, in the case of UC Irvine, interrupting the normal course of business by calling for remote classes after a protest there ended with a police response.

The UC system has filed its own complaint of unfair labor practices against the union, saying from the get-go that the strike was illegal for violating a no-strike clause in the collective bargaining agreement.

The California Public Employment Relations Board, the quasi-judicial administrative agency charged with administering the collective bargaining statutes covering state employees, continues to review the unfair labor practice charges filed by both sides.

The UAW contends the issue never should have gone to the Superior Court after PERB twice denied an injunction to stop the strike sought by the UC system.

However, the underlying Superior Court lawsuit filed by the UC system regarding what they say is a breach of contract by the union will proceed. The next hearing on the case is scheduled for Nov. 8.

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