Working together to secure accessible and excellent higher education for all our people. UCLA chapter of the Council of UC Faculty Associations
@uc_faculty
This is terrifying, violent behavior. Campuses are not police states.
@UCLA
stop militarizing our workplace, cease and desist from using police violence against students and employees.
@UC_Newsroom
The legality of this strike isn't determined by you. Under HEERA, it is PERB who evaluates the standing of a ULP charge. But don't listen to us, listen to a UCLA professor: .
What is dangerous here is an employer determining the legality of a strike. 🙅
UAW strike has been authorized! This is a ULP strike, which does not violate the no-strike clause in a contract, and cannot be deemed unlawful by UCOP. More information about
@uaw_4811
strike and faculty rights coming. See our FAQ for more info!
We see some department chairs circulating dubious threats about docking faculty pay. Is the purpose to dissuade faculty from collective action in response to the UAW strike? Pretty sure there's a law against that
Arts and Entertainment Unions and UC Alumni Picket in support of 48,000 strike academic workers. Monday 11/21 12:30-2:30 pm, at UCLA's Inverted Fountain.
Commentary on the
#UAWStrike
from Michael Meranze: UCOP is blind to reality. Without a major reinvestment in the Univ. of California by the State of California we will witness the "end of UC as a serious research university." 🧵 /1
Last week, UC circumvented acceptable labor dispute practices to pause the
@uaw_4811
strike. Ongoing securitization of campus sends a message to faculty: your employer sets the limit for what you protest and who you associate with. We reject this limit.
UC campuses now asking Academic Senate faculty to attest to their participation in the UAW strike, prompting a cease and desist letter from
@uc_faculty
and UCSC Faculty Association in a 🧵 :
UCLA faculty: just say no to punitive austerity, divide and conquer management, call for central funding of graduate employees raises. You can sign the letter here 👇
Attn UC Senate Faculty! This is about the future of public higher education. Support
@UCAFT_UCLA
lecturers: write to President Drake, sign up for picket duty, donate to the strike fund, spread the word!
#WeTeachUC
Reports incoming that PERB denied UC's request for an injunction.
@uaw_4811
strike will go ahead at UCLA and UC Davis on Tuesday.
As faculty, you have the legal right not to pick up struck work.
Read our FAQ for more:
Injunction against the UC strike DENIED. UC has had many chances to resolve its egregious ULPs and it has thus far refused to engage. Now two more campuses are walking out. UCLA and UC Davis—it’s time to Stand Up.
#StandUpUC
@uaw_4811
What can unions do for tenure system faculty? Quite a lot says Jessica Taft from the UC Santa Cruz Faculty Association, the one UC campus where faculty have bargaining rights
More than 2 years without a contract,
@UCAFT_UCLA
preparing for a strike. Donate what you can to support a fair contract with real job security, pay equity, and respect
.
@UCAFT
Militancy Fund - Strike and Direct Action Support ✊
#Lecturers
have been working out of contract since Feb 2020 and are escalating their campaign for a fair contact. Donate to this fund today!
UC academic workers with
@uaw2865
and
@sruuaw
ratify contracts ending strike that won big wage gains and new rights for student workers. Congratulations and solidarity forever!
Academic Student Employees and Student Researchers ratified our new contracts!
The vote breakdown was 11,386 to 7,097 for Academic Student Employees and 10,057 to 4,640 for Student Researchers.
#FairUCnow
Following two weeks on strike there has been progress at the bargaining table for UC Postdocs, according to this report. Let's hope that progress extends to the other units!
#FairUCNow
UPDATE: After a powerful week and a half of our historic strike, UC has finally made a serious offer to Postdocs that addresses major concerns! Hear from bargaining team members about highlights of the most recent proposal & what we're still fighting for.
#UAWonStrike
"This situation is intolerable and we call on the university to reach a speedy settlement with the union."
Open letter from UCLA Senate faculty supporting lecturers in
@UCAFT_UCLA
. Follow the link to add your name:
Council of UC Faculty Associations to UC management: “We demand you fulfill your responsibility to your campus community to defend peaceful protestors, uphold academic freedom, and reject pressure to criminalize peaceful encampments and demonstrations.”
"We write to strongly condemn the violent repression of peaceful protests by students across the country, including, alarmingly, at our sister campus UCLA."--thank you
@FacultyBerkeley
!
UC academic student employees and student researchers remain on strike while they vote on their tentative agreement. Voting continues until Friday 12/23.
UC Labor Relations has been falsely claiming that the tentative agreements mean the strike is over. This is wrong. The strike continues until agreements are ratified.
You can report any retaliation from the UC via this form:
[1.2] In doing so,
#UCLA
interfered with faculty’s protected right to advocate and organize regarding matters that impact workplace safety (i.e. protecting students, graduate workers, faculty colleagues, and staff who exercised their right to protest).
As we wait for UAW-represented campus workers' strike authorization vote, here's a useful FAQ from the 2022 strike for faculty wondering about their rights during a strike:
UC lecturers will strike 11/17-18 to protest admin foot-dragging after 2 + years working w/o a contract. They were the heroes of pandemic teaching. Time for UC admin to get serious about job security for our lecturers
🚨BREAKING: UC-AFT’s Executive Board served notice to UC management that lecturers will strike on Nov. 17 and 18 against unfair labor practices committed by the
@UofCalifornia
.
#UCUnfair
#WeTeachUC
(1/4)
Do I have to "pick up the slack" of TAs, GSIs, and postdocs on strike? No! Under HEERA, senate faculty can decline to perform struck work that is outside our customary duties. Performing struck labor undermines faculty welfare, giving up our own legal protections.
What to do as the grades come due?
@uc_faculty
are hosting a Virtual Town Hall for all UC faculty tomorrow, Friday 7/7 at noon. Read more about it, submit your question, and get the Zoom link on our website.
#StandUpUC
#Strike
#Grading
#FacultyRights
Important 🧵 on the role of UC campus Faculty Associations and
@uc_faculty
, created specifically to represent faculty on employment issues beyond the reach of Senates--including the right to unionize if we choose
Multiple Academic Senates sent out notices extending grade submission deadlines last week that began by warning Senate faculty of all of the confusing memos, letters, FAQs, etc., that are floating around regarding the strike. 1/10
Teachers at the
@UCLALabSchool
also in tough negotiations. Perhaps a pattern w/ UC administrators? Shouldn't be this hard. Time to bargain in good faith for a
#FairUCNow
.
@darnell_hunt
@uclaseis
@UCLAseis_dean
There's a grave injustice happening
@UCLALabSchool
Violations of labor law, eroded trust & morale, time, energy and resources directed away from teaching & school's mission. Read this thread to the end, and then, take action to fix it. 1/16
UCLA Lab School teachers have been working without a contract for almost three years while negotiations drag on. Time's up UCLA! Sign the letter calling on UCLA leadership to negotiate a fair contract 👇
"But wait, I've been told supervisors can't honor picket lines." Senate faculty do not become "supervisory employees," a legal term of art under HEERA, by supervising teaching and research; we retain full HEERA rights. See memo by UC labor law scholars:
Chairs, department and program heads are wondering - can I respect picket lines? The answer is yes! Senate faculty, including dept chairs and program hears are protected by HEERA. See our primer: and CUCFA's FAQ:
Faculty are asking: Can I respect a picket line? Will I be protected? The answer is YES. Senate faculty are protected by the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA) (see Govt Code Section 3562e). Read our quick "Know Your Rights" primer:
Grad student employees at UCSC facing disciplinary action, COLA protests spreading to other UC campuses. Faculty circulating non-retaliation pledge:
@ucla4cola
Petition circulating about non-reappointment of
@UCAFT_UCLA
lecturer in Nursing who has been vocal advocate for her union. Union has demanded better job security for this reason, UC say not necessary. They like this kind of flexibility
Please sign this petition to
@UCLA
opposing its illegal retaliation against Nursing Professor Dolly Wilson for her union activism. Prof. Wilson has been organizing with
@UCAFT
against excessive teaching workloads in her dept for years. Not reappointing her is clear union-busting.
Should contingent faculty's decision to respect a picket line/perform struck work be considered during their reappointment? The answer is no! This could be unlawful retaliation and violate both HEERA and the UC-AFT Unit 18 collective bargaining agreement.
"Choosing to spend significant staff time and resources on creating and processing these forms instead of helping campuses complete missing grades and prepare for the new pay scales for ASEs" shows the administration is out of touch with the real challenges facing UC campuses
UC-AFT and the UC have reached a tentative agreement described by the union as "transformative and groundbreaking." The strike is off. Rally at noon to celebrate
"What kind of employer refuses to materially acknowledge the many ways employees went above and beyond during the COVID pandemic and then threatens those same workers with pay docking for engaging in acts of solidarity with graduate student workers fighting for a liveable wage?"
"The long-term question raised by the strike is whether UC will continue as a research university; if we don’t make it possible for future scholars to attend, we will have forfeited our purpose." Can't solve all problems in one contract, but can take "first steps" to new model /7
"UCOP appears completely out of touch with the reality of life on campuses and indifferent to its lack of knowledge." Letter from Provost Brown only deepened the perception of UCOP's "autocratic disregard" for the daily challenges of academic workers. /3
We're hopeful a mediator can move UC toward a resolution that works for members of
@uaw2865
and
@sruuaw
. Meanwhile, the strike continues with a rally planned for 12/14 on the UCLA campus. See you there!
REGENTS ROMP - Dec. 14 at
@UCLA
Luskin Center! Join striking academic workers, faculty, undergraduates, labor allies, and
@tmorello
to show the
@UofCalifornia
Board of Regents that the demand for a fair contract is not going anywhere!
Meranze: UCOP is treating
#UAWStrike
like a "conventional labor negotiation with a class of workers whose position is fundamentally stable." But for graduate employees the high cost of living makes the outcome practically existential. /2
.
@uc_faculty
: "We are disappointed that UCOP has chosen to punitively distribute attestation forms and believe that these are an unlawful attempt to suppress labor action." Read it all here:
Striking academic workers with
@uaw2865
and
@sruuaw
will vote on a tentative agreement during the week of 12/19. In the meantime, the strike continues at least until next Friday. Details on the proposed settlements here:
UCOP will argue the state is broke, leaders don't want to invest in public higher education. But tax revenues are running ahead of predictions and by one estimate, California is sitting on $90 billion in cash and other reserves. /6
Solidarity w/ our faculty colleagues
@UCAFT_UCLA
! Campus rallies 12 noon 10/13 and 10/14. Lecturers don't need empty rhetoric, they need job security, pay equity, and respect. Their working conditions are students' learning conditions
California legislator introduces constitutional amendment to stop UC from outsourcing service jobs. This is a major issue in dispute w/
@AFSCMELocal3299
UC faculty: please sign petition supporting collective bargaining for graduate employees. UC admin should de-escalate this conflict, and open negotiations w/ the union
HI UCLA FACULTY, UC’s trying to bust our whole freaking union with a ULP, filed immediately after firing 80 union workers at SC. do we trust UC to give workers fee remissions, healthcare, & anti-discrimination protections w/o a union contract? no way! please sign in support here:
Union of Student-workers at U of CA challenging management to deal w high cost of living in CA. Ask why do different classes of student workers get v different benefits? Public bargaining is fascinating to follow.
We were not aware that housing is a right for doctors but not for engineers, sociologists, lawyers, art historians, architects, philosophers, musicians, veterinarians. Important clarification.
#2865bargaining
#ucforall
You won't violate the Faculty Code of Conduct if you respect the picket line. The Council of UC Faculty Associations does not understand the FCoC as prohibiting conduct protected under HEERA. Read our primer: or
@uc_faculty
's FAQ:
Today we're talking about lecturers and adjuncts. Should I ask contingent faculty to do the work of striking TAs? The answer is no! Non-Senate and contingent faculty have the same rights as senate faculty to decline to perform struck labor. Our primer:
"After all this effort, for the Provost to threaten disciplinary action for those who choose not to pick up the work of striking TAs or to act upon their own convictions about academic integrity, manifests a contempt for the faculty that is hard to ignore." /5
"For the last three years, faculty and lecturers [and graduate student instructors] have performed an enormous amount of additional labor to keep the university afloat during the pandemic," all in the name of "instructional continuity." /4
In the charge, the
#UCLAFA
details two ways in which
#UCLA
interfered with its members’ rights under HEERA (Higher Education Employment Relations Act).
CUCFA and UCSCFA say UC is "treating strike-related absences differently than the many other instances in which faculty have missed department meetings or canceled a class and not had their pay withheld."
Academic workers across the UC system are on strike today. Picket lines are up across the
@ucla
campus. Faculty seeking information about the strike should read the FAQs from
@uc_faculty
:
Join
@uaw4811
and
@UCAFT_UCLA
at a rally today at 11am at the Luskin Conference Center. We'll be there too. Labor rights matter. We have a better UC to win.
UCSD admin should be implementing the terms of the UAW contract. Instead they are cutting positions and clamping down on union protests.
https://the
by
@luc_pete
UC Academic Senate calls on admin to settle
#UCSC
#COLAStrike
. Says UC "should be committed to providing adequate housing and food security in concrete ways to its doctoral students," and should "substantially roll back" and "demilitarize" police on
Faculty are wondering: If I respect the picket line, will it do anything? The answer is yes! Senate faculty help strengthen the strike if they respect the picket line. They also accelerate resolution by pressuring admin to negotiate. Read our primer:
UPDATE - Speakers at tomorrow's rally include
@UTLAnow
President Cecily Myart-Cruz,
@LALabor
President Yvonne Wheeler,
@LolaForSenate
, and more!
See you there!
"UCOP’s willingness to penalize us specifically and uniquely for strike-related absences has a chilling effect on campus labor organizing." Well, let's say that's the desired effect. We won't let them scare us!
"This indicates that the primary purpose of distributing attestation forms is to undermine Senate faculty solidarity with other workers and to discourage our participation in protected concerted activity."
Compared to unionized public school teachers in LA, university faculty are practically on their own to enforce COVID-19 safety in classrooms. Mandatory weekly testing vs recommended, no access to campus w/o symptom monitoring vs faculty checks dashboard each day. Also, 5% raise
Strong union, strong contract, strong safety protocols.
@UTLAnow
mid-contract bargaining nets continued testing, masking, and ventilation standards, 5% raise plus $2K stipend and retro $500 technology fund for last year, among other things.
Over 250 UCLA faculty sign call for pause on campus budget and network changes due to roll out on 7/1/21 citing lack of transparency, likely centralization of $$ and decision making
SacBee: 24,000 service workers, 14,000 nurses, and thousands more technical employees will be striking Univ. of California campuses and medical centers May 7-9.
Get an update on negotiations btw UC lecturers & management, potential for job action or settlement. Hear from leaders of
@uc_faculty
&
@UC
-AFT, 10/21 7-8 PM. Register here:
Q: Do I need to volunteer to perform the labor of strikers such as teaching their classes or sections or doing their assigned grading?
A: No. Faculty do not need to volunteer to perform struck work that is outside our customary duties.
Fixes coming to the broken public service loan forgiveness program. Biden admin and
@AFTacademics
reach settlement to review rejected applications, help borrowers apply. Good start on the road to wider debt relief that we need soon.
Amazing news! “[This settlement] represents a game-changing victory for the millions of educators, nurses, public employees and other AFT members yoked to crushing monthly repayments that have upended their lives."
#PSLF
#StudentDebt
#SolidarityNotAusterity
Congratulations to New School part-time contingent faculty on their massive victory. Huge raises, job stability, healthcare for faculty teaching only one class. 🥳 💥 👊🏼Militant collective action works!
UC Professional and Technical Employees plan solidarity strike on May 8 and 9, say UC offer to
@AFSCMELocal3299
will "worsen chronically high workloads and under-staffing; which harm patients, research, and students every day"
Rutgers U professor Donna Murch explains the wall-to-wall organizing strategy that led to tentative contract deal with major improvements for lowest paid academic workers, job security for contingent faculty
@ruaaup
. That’s how you win!
Three Rutgers University academic worker unions (
@ruaaup
,
@ruaaup_ptl
&
@ABhsnj
) have entered their 5th day of a historic strike.
"They want labor to be as cheap as possible," says union member
@murchnik
, of the "neoliberal" university system that benefits those at the top.