As in any workplace, Academic Student Employees (ASEs) deserve to have a say in how they are treated.  As far back as 1938, readers and TA’s at UC Berkeley organized to demand decent pay and a voice in their workplace.  While the initial organizing in the 1930’s were largely unsuccessful, ASEs accross the UC sytem continued to organize for thier rights.

In the late 1960’s, beginning with the TA’s in the Economics Department at Berkeley, graduate workers again pressed for union recognition.  The UCB administration argued that ASEs were not workers and hence could not bargain collectively and be represented through a Union. By the mid 1970’s, ASE organizing had spread throughout the UC system.  At UCLA the newly formed Union fought back against cuts in TA positions.    The passage of the Higher Education Employee-Employer Relations Act (HEERA) in 1979 extended collective bargaining rights to employees at state colleges and universities.  This would provide a crucial opportunity for ASE organizing and set the stage for a lasting victory.

Through the 1980’s, TA’s and RA’s formed organizations at UC Berkeley, UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz and continued to fight the University for recognition.  Led by the Association of Graduate Student Employees at UC Berkeley, groups at Berkeley, Davis and Santa Cruz voted to affiliate with the United Auto Workers (UAW).  Together, they set out to organize at every campus.
           
Several years of organizing with the support of the UAW led to a strike in December of 1998 on all 8 UC teaching campuses during finals. The demand was simple: recognition of the Union. As a result of the highly successful strike, State Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa and other political leaders directed the UC and the UAW into a “cooling off period”.  ASEs went back to work with a University Commitment to discuss the issue of recognition at a later date. While the UC continued to maintain it’s position that ASE’s were not workers, the Public Employee Relations Board, which oversees HEERA, issued a new ruling on the subject. Teaching Assistants, Associates, as well as Readers and Tutors, were all workers in the view of the board. Academic Student Employees voted overwhelmingly for UAW representation the following year, and UAW Local 2865 was born. Since the victory at the UC, the UAW has helped other ASEs, including the University of Washington and the California State University win representation, making it the largest Academic Student Employee union in the United States.