FAQs for Senate Faculty about Possible Strike by UAW-2865, UAW-5810, and SRU-UAW

UAW 2865, UAW 5810, and SRU-UAW Strike

Fall 2022 [updated Nov 8th]

Dear faculty colleagues,

48,000 Academic Student Employees at the University of California represented by three unions have authorized a strike action with a vote of more than 97.5% in support. Extended negotiations with the UC administration have resulted in almost 30 Unfair Labor Practice charges against the university, and their demands remain unmet. Scheduled to begin next Monday, this would be one of the largest higher education labor actions in history. More information can be found at https://www.fairucnow.org/

On November 14, graduate workers, student researchers, postdocs, and Academic Researchers will stop their paid work until the administration concedes and a tentative contract is reached.

These academic workers at UCSB have asked for faculty support and written a position on faculty solidarity which we encourage you to read here. We realize one size does not fit all; we respect individual faculty choices in the form and extent of participation. But there is a clear sense that departments can take collective action to implement mechanisms that ensure equity for faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates. Below are answers to frequently asked questions, as well as “models” that can be adapted by both departments and individual faculty.

Q: Why are graduate students striking? 

Graduate students are striking because they cannot bargain seriously for a contract as long as the UC keeps committing ULPs. Many UCSB graduate students pay over 50 percent of their wages on rent. What remains is overstretched to pay for food, monthly utilities, medical care, transportation expenses, and childcare. Some students live in their cars. Many are food insecure. Others work excessive hours in multiple jobs on and off campus to make ends meet, sacrificing the time they should be able to devote to their teaching and research in the process. Most students go into debt because it is not possible on their stipends to pay for these basic means of subsistence. Graduate student living conditions affect their ability to teach and mentor students effectively, as well as complete their degrees, thereby degrading the quality of education at UCSB.

Q: What are the Academic Student Employees’ demands?

Full details are available here. We summarize critical items below: 

• A change in wages that would take graduate workers out of rent burden. The bargaining team has proposed $54,085 and 7% raise every year thereafter. If bargaining is successful, graduate and ASE salaries would cost, in total, less than 2% of the yearly operating budget of the University of California – which is $46 billion for AY 2022-23 
• Childcare reimbursements and benefits, including paid pregnancy disability leave, free childcare for graduate workers who are parents, and healthcare coverage for the dependents and children of graduate workers
• Community Safety: A 100% defunding of the UCPD.
• Housing: A guarantee of 5 years of student housing, and until they can make this possible, a housing stipend so that graduate workers can afford to live off campus 
• International Scholars and Immigrant Support: That the UC covers the cost of visas, as well as the cost of speech tests currently required for international students. 
• Respectful Work Environment: Further protection from forms of harassment in the work place that do not fall under current non-discrimination policy, meant to be a complement to Title IX policies. This item would expand the definition of hostile work environments and abusive contact. [All four bargaining units have reached a tentative agreement on this bargaining item] 

Q: How much are grad students at UCSB paid?

As you are no doubt aware, graduate student funding varies a great deal based on department and program year and from student to student. Some students are able to find on-campus jobs and intra- and extramural fellowships to supplement their guaranteed funding. Most students combine funding from multiple sources in a given academic year. Many have trouble finding summer employment on campus and summer support is rarely included in guaranteed funding packages. Forms of employment are particularly limited for graduate international students, who cannot work beyond 50% of their time and cannot work outside the university. Additionally, many students do not conform to the unspoken assumption underlying their compensation that graduate students are young, healthy, able-bodied, single, childless, and free of other financial responsibilities. You may want to talk to your graduate students directly about their specific compensation and financial challenges. 

This academic year, the pretax salaries for common graduate student positions are:

• • Teaching Assistant: $2,583 per month, or $23,246 per year (50 percent appointment, nine months)
  • Teaching Associate: $2,706 per month, or $24,355 per year (Step 1, 50 percent appointment, nine months)
  • Graduate Student Researcher: $1,834 per month, or $22,005 per year (Step 1, 50 percent appointment, twelve months)

These rates are standard across all UC campuses, regardless of local cost of living.

Q: What does a strike mean?

Graduate students who choose to go on strike will stop all work enumerated in their contracts. All work such as teaching, holding sections grading, office hours, sitting on faculty committees, etc. will stop. The important thing to keep in mind is that this is a protected Unfair Labor Practice strike, and as such, is lawful under the Higher Education Employment Relations Act. Academic student employees are protected from being terminated or disciplined for participating in the strike, and faculty should respect academic workers’ right to strike. 

Q: As a faculty member, do I have a right to respect academic workers’ picket line and cancel classes to show my solidarity with the striking students?

Faculty members are legally obligated to respect the right of workers to strike, and should not retaliate against or seek disclosure of striking workers under any circumstances.

In addition, All university employees covered under HEERA, including all Senate faculty, even department chairs or heads of similar academic units or programs, are non-managerial and so have the right to respect a picket line established by other university employees. (for details see Government Code Section 3580.3). This right is acknowledged in the materials that UCOP is currently circulating: “unrepresented non-managerial employees also have a protected right to honor a picket line and/or engage in a sympathy strike” (pg 3 of their FAQ and Guidance). Senate faculty are not subject to a “no strike” clause and so maintain their right to honor a picket line. University employees also have individual free speech rights that provide additional protections.

Q: Isn’t respecting the picket line a violation of the Faculty Code of Conduct?

No, CUCFA does not understand the Faculty Code of Conduct as prohibiting conduct protected under HEERA, including respecting a picket line. The Faculty Code of Conduct furthermore recognizes the constitutionally protected rights of Senate faculty to free expression.

Q: Do I need to tell someone if I am choosing to respect the picket line? 

It may be appropriate to inform your department chair if you want to make clear that you will be respecting the picket line. Still, you are under no legal obligation to affirmatively notify the university. If you are asked whether you will be honoring the picket line, you are not obligated to respond, but if you decide to answer, you should respond truthfully.

Q: What do I tell my undergraduate students?

Do talk to your undergraduate classes about the strike: why it’s happening, why support for and solidarity with the graduate students is important, and what they can do to show their support. Assure them that their grades for work completed thus far have not been deleted. Be straightforward with your students about the uncertainty of this situation. Tell them that the cleanest way for this all to resolve it for the UC administration to resolve the Unfair Labor Practice lawsuits and stop committing more Unfair Labor Practices —and student and faculty support is key in that. 

Q: What about final grades? 

We do not yet know if the strike will last into the period of final exams and final grades submission. The strike has been authorized to start on November 14. The UAW 2865, UAW 5810, and SRU-UAW bargaining units will be voting every week to see if workers want to keep striking. The strike will only be called off when UCOP resolves its ULPs. We will continue to update you as the strike unfolds. At this point, we should not assume that final grades will be withheld, and we will continue to send updates as the end of the quarter approaches. 

Q: How can I as a faculty member support the strike?

The UAW 2865 leadership across the University of California system defines the picket line as stopping all work for the university.

The UAW 2865 Santa Barbara OC considers the following actions to be essential for solidarity:

1. Respect workers’ right to strike. The strike is an Unfair Labor Practices strike and is protected by the National Labor Relations Act. Workers have a protected right to strike. Faculty should, as a baseline, respect academic workers’ right to strike and be clear that we understand why they are not doing these duties, conveying that we respect their choice. This includes respecting your TAs’ decisions to stop teaching discussion sections; hold office hours; attend lectures, input grades, and other TA responsibilities. This also includes respecting the right of Research Assistants to withdraw their labor from research responsibilities, and any other forms of paid work by UAW 2865, UAW 5810, and SRU-UAW workers. 
2. Canceling undergraduate lectures and assignments. The complete stoppage of all class activity, including classes without TAs, amplifies the essential role played by TAs in the classroom. UAW 2865 workers argue that this step is essential to creating the maximum disruption to undergraduate instruction that is key to an effective strike. This also includes online lectures and classes. Faculty solidarity in the form of canceled lectures were key to the success of graduate student workers in the recent Columbia University strike.
   
3. Canceling graded assignments that are due during the duration of the strike. Graduate workers will be withdrawing their labor from all paid work during the strike, and this includes grading. The union will hold a vote to renew the strike every week, which will continue if the majority of workers in the respective bargaining units vote to continue their strike. We, therefore, do not yet know whether final grades will be affected. In the meantime, however, UAW 2865 workers have asked us to respect the picket line by canceling all graded assignments that are due during the duration of the strike. Changing assignments or grading policies do not achieve the aim of registering maximum disruption to the university’s functioning, as it circumvents the impact of strike labor.
   1. 1. Instructors may wish to cancel graded assignments in the following possible ways: cancel assignments that require grading for the duration of the strike; leave assignments ungraded; explain to students why their learning has been disrupted. Faculty in solidarity with the workers’ demands might consider conveying how essential graduate workers are to the quality of undergraduate education. As such, UAW 2865 workers ask that we not undertake struck labor or seek to sidestep grading labor by altering graded assignments through options such as MCQ or peer-reviewed grading. Instead, we recommend educating your undergraduate students about the importance of TA labor to their learning, and telling undergraduate students how the university administration’s refusal to bargain in good faith results in a decrease in their educational quality. As such, the best way to be in solidarity with graduate workers is to make clear that graduate students have the right to strike, are essential to the functioning of the university, and that the university administration’s refusal to meet their basic demands is responsible for disruption to undergraduate learning.
         
4. Refuse to take on the labor of TAs and RAs. Taking on the responsibilities of TAs—including teaching sections or grading assignments—undermines the power of TAs’ collective withdrawal of labor. Under HEERA, faculty do not need to volunteer to perform strike work that is outside our customary duties. One of the most important ways we can be in solidarity with striking workers is to not diminish the impact of their absence by volunteering to do the work they are withholding. Though it may seem helpful to fill a gap left when someone is out on strike, it undermines the action and can lead to conflict and resentment. See the CUCFA FAQ, question 8, for more details.
5. Refuse retaliation and disclosure. This is a baseline expectation for faculty solidarity, since the strike is lawfully protected and faculty in supervisory positions are legally obligated to not interfere in workers’ right to organize and strike. By doing so, you pledge that you will not penalize graduate students in any way for engaging in this strike; you will not disclose the name of striking Teaching Assistants to the university administration, nor will you endorse any disciplinary measures directed at graduate students who have participated in the strike.The UAW 2865 Santa Barbara OC further encourages the following additional actions to stand in solidarity with TAs, tutors and readers:
6. Showing up at the picket line. Picket line times and details will be announced soon, but there will be a picket line every day on the walkway between the UCSB library and the Arbor. We encourage faculty to show up in solidarity. We will send an update as soon as we have this information.
7. Communicating the reasons behind the strike to undergraduates, staff and faculty members before November 14 and giving updates to undergraduate students throughout the strike. Faculty should reiterate ASEs’ right to strike and their reasons for striking to students and colleagues.
8. Holding teach-ins. We encourage instructors to hold a teach-in about why classes have been canceled. We have provided a sample teach in here, which includes a powerpoint as well as teaching notes. The teach in may communicate how strikes are a tool for workers, the various ways that graduate students are integral to their education and the university’s mission at large, and why graduate students exercising their rights as workers to participate in labor actions such as a strike benefits their undergraduate education overall
9. Sending a department letter of solidarity to the Office of the Chancellor. For example, the History Department sent the following resolution to Chancellor Yang on Oct. 19 in solidarity with graduate students.
10. Sign the CUCFA petition to register your public support of the strike.

    SBFA further suggests the following possibilities for showing your solidarity with the strike:

11. Ask UCOP to bargain in good faith. Encouraging undergraduate students to have their parents and/or guardians contact Chancellor Yang’s office and ask that he direct the UC Office of the President to bargain in good faith with the UAW bargaining teams.
12. Contribute to the strike fund
13. Canceling undergraduate classes, including classes for courses without TAs. Faculty have the HEERA-protected right to respect a picket line. In solidarity with the strike, faculty may, in addition to canceling sections, also choose to additionally cancel undergraduate lectures, including classes for courses without TAs. Faculty in solidarity with striking graduate workers at Columbia, for example, canceled their lectures in order to create the maximum disruption to undergraduate instruction and send a strong message to the Columbia university administration. This proved essential in the success of the strike.
14. Canceling graduate seminars or holding them on the picket line. The graduate workers’ union, UAW2865, has not asked for this show of support, since labor unions fall on the “student” side of the student/worker line. However, noting that many graduate workers will be involved in organizing on the picket line and may be very busy during the strike, as faculty, we might consider holding lectures on the picket line or canceling graduate seminars in support of the strike. Faculty who choose such actions are individually responsible for notifying their department chairs before choosing their course of action.

Q: Should we be taking department-wide positions?

A department statement of solidarity will send a clear message that staff and faculty support graduate student workers and their demands for a contract. Department chairs may wish to hold a meeting and motion for a departmental vote on a department-wide position, such as collectively canceling sections and pledging non-disclosure, or collectively respecting all the actions that UAW 2865 has defined as essential to honoring the picket line. If faculty do not have consensus on taking a department-wide position, we suggest providing all instructors with the menu of options listed above and advising faculty to make individual decisions to respect the picket line, which are decisions protected by HEERA. 

We close with the graduate student demands: raising ASE salaries to bring them in line with the cost of living in California; an increase in benefits and childcare reimbursements for workers with children and dependents; visa and testing remissions for international student workers, and a safe and inclusive workplace environment. We wish them well in their endeavors.

Attachments:

Template for email to undergraduate majors (addressed from undergraduate directors to undergraduates)

Sample Department solidarity statement

Sign the CUCFA petition in support of graduate workers

2022 Powerpoint teach-in on the strik

____________________________

November 7, 2022

On November 14th, tens of thousands of academic workers represented by UAW 2865 (the Union of Academic Student Employees at UC), UAW 5810 (Postdocs and Academic Researchers), and SRU-UAW (Student Researchers) will begin striking to resolve Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs). 98% of 36,558 union members cast YES votes authorizing the UAW to call a multi-unit strike. UAW has bargained for months with the UC to secure better pay, benefits, and working conditions. A timeline and their demands can be found at fairucnow.org.

CUCFA supports our fellow academic workers and calls on the UC to bargain in good faith. The disruption to the university’s core mission – teaching and research – will end through the administration’s efforts to settle the strike. Faculty are not responsible for its resolution, nor should we be expected to mitigate all its effects.

This document responds to questions that Senate faculty may have regarding their rights and responsibilities during the UAW strike, including but not limited to how they can respect the picket line. The UAW requests that faculty honor the picket line, but there are also other ways to show support, which can be found below.

Q1: What does a strike mean?

A: Academic workers who choose to go on strike will stop all research and teaching work. This is an Unfair Labor Practice Strike, lawful under the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA). Academic workers engaged in a lawful ULP strike are protected from being terminated or disciplined for participating in the strike, and faculty must respect their right to strike.

Q2: What does respecting a picket line mean?

A: Respecting a picket line is sometimes used as a general term to describe supporting a strike or not entering a location where a strike is happening. However, when there is a strike at one’s own workplace, it specifically describes individual employees acting on their conscience and withholding their own labor in solidarity with striking workers. In this case, that means not doing work on behalf of the university.  It is not the same as engaging directly in the strike, but it shows your support for the picketing workers, their union, and the labor movement.

Q3: Do I have a right to respect a picket line in general and the UAW picket line in particular?

A: Yes. All university employees covered under HEERA, including all Senate faculty, have a right to respect a picket line established by other university employees. University employees also have individual free speech rights that provide additional protections.

You may start honoring the picket line at any point during the strike. However, if you choose to respect the picket line but then decide to return to work, you should only honor the picket line again if the UAW strikes over a new issue. You may always show your solidarity in other ways, including not volunteering to pick up struck labor and being present at the picket during your personal time.

Q4: What might be the consequences of respecting the UAW picket line?

A: One consequence is that your solidarity will strengthen the strike and help the Postdocs, Researchers, TAs, and GSIs win respect from the university.

The university may choose to withhold the pay of Senate faculty for their time respecting UAW’s picket line. It would, however, be unlawful for the university to dock additional pay or take other disciplinary action against faculty for honoring the picket line.

Q5: Isn’t respecting the picket line a violation of the Faculty Code of Conduct?

A: No, CUCFA does not understand the Faculty Code of Conduct as prohibiting conduct protected under HEERA, including respecting a picket line. The Faculty Code of Conduct furthermore recognizes the constitutionally protected rights of Senate faculty to free expression.

Q6: Do I need to tell someone if I am choosing to respect the picket line? 

A:  It may be appropriate to inform your department chair if you want to make clear that you will be respecting the picket line. Still, you are under no legal obligation to affirmatively notify the university. If you are asked whether you will be honoring the picket line, you are not obligated to respond, but if you decide to answer, you should respond truthfully.

Q7: Other than respecting the picket line, how else can Senate faculty show support for the strikers?

• Not volunteer to pick up struck labor (discussed in greater detail in Q8 below)
• Be present at the picket line and rallies.
• Communicate with your TAs, Postdocs, and Student Researchers, making it clear that you will accommodate their participation in the strike, but do not monitor or ask them about their strike activity.
• Contribute to the UAW-UC strike and hardship fund (found here)
• Encourage your department to issue a statement of solidarity (examples can be found here).
• Use social media to express your support, using the hashtag #FairUCNow
• Send a letter to President Drake calling for good-faith bargaining (template here)
• Sign the CUCFA statement of support for the striking unions (found here)

Q8: Do I need to volunteer to perform the labor of Postdocs, Researchers, TAs, and GSIs who are on strike, such as teaching their classes or sections or doing their assigned grading?

A: No. Under HEERA, faculty do not need to volunteer to perform struck work that is outside our customary duties. One of the most important ways we can be in solidarity with striking workers is to not diminish the impact of their absence by volunteering to do the work they are withholding. Though it may seem helpful to fill a gap left when someone is out on strike, it undermines the action and can lead to conflict and resentment.

You may receive messages from the university telling you that it is your responsibility to ensure the continuity of education for your students. Such messages do not mean you have to volunteer to do the work of strikers that is not part of your normal work duties. If you are asked to fulfill responsibilities that depend on the missing labor, you should ask if you are being required to do this work, ask how you will be compensated for this additional labor, and contact CUCFA.

Those teaching courses with TAs may have specific concerns regarding final grades. We do not yet know if the strike will last into the period of final exams and final grade submission. If this may be the case, CUCFA will offer additional guidance about your rights and obligations regarding grade submission.

Q9: What should I do if I feel intimidated by the administration’s statements about UAW’s strike?

A: The best defense against intimidation is knowledge of your rights. And importantly, your Faculty Association is here for you. Please contact your campus Faculty Association or CUCFA if you or your colleagues feel intimidated.

Q10: Is it fair to students when faculty respect a picket line?

A: When faculty respect a picket line, we demonstrate in very concrete terms that we are unwilling to accept the conditions that have led academic workers and researchers at UC to vote for a strike in the first place. It is one powerful way for us to communicate that they are essential to the teaching and research mission of the University of California and that their contracts should reflect that. As undergraduate enrollments rise, improved working and living conditions for academic workers are necessary to provide students with the best possible learning conditions and to ensure that the UC is living up to its own policy of nurturing and maintaining a diverse academic community.

Q11: How can I learn more about the demands of the Postdocs, Researchers, TAs, and GSIs, and the university’s responses?

A: Click here for details and updates.