UC Leaders Say Union’s Demands Could Have ‘Overwhelming’ Fiscal Impacts

Union academic workers and supporters march and picket at the UCLA campus amid a statewide strike by nearly 48,000 University of California unionized workers in Los Angeles on Nov. 15, 2022. Mario Tama/Getty Images

University of California (UC) leaders said the demands of the 48,000 researchers and student employees who launched a strike across all 10 UC campuses last week could cost the university up to several hundred million dollars per year.

United Auto Workers had been in negotiations with UC leaders for months over four academic units: postdoctoral scholars, academic researchers, graduate student researchers, and academic student employees—including teaching assistants, readers, and tutors, according to UC’s Office of the President spokesperson in a previous interview.