Over the last quarter, the UC administration has systematically attacked our working conditions at every campus. Administrators are refusing to hire people at the appropriate appointment percentage; are ignoring past practices of summer funding or pay parity between ASEs and GSRs; are planning enrollment or job cuts for ASEs; and are turning a blind eye to various forms of retaliation that faculty are taking against our coworkers. After previously agreeing to transformative contracts for graduate workers, UC is now looking for any opportunity to weasel their way out of their new responsibilities.

• Reducing the ASE workforce by as much as 15% ASE positions are how most graduate students are compensated throughout their degree. Cutting ASE jobs means graduate students across the UC will not be supported in their academic programs.

• Hiring GSRs below 50% and eliminating promotions Though the university agreed at the bargaining table that GSRs would be hired at 50%, there are attempts across the UC system to hire people below 50% in a clear effort to underpay workers and skirt the raises they agreed to. UC is also attempting to stop giving GSRs experience-based promotions in order to circumvent paying the raises they agreed to.

• Increasing class sizes and eliminating TA Sections ASEs are an integral part of students’ education in the UC system-allowing time for one-on-one and small group instruction to help students succeed.  Larger class sizes and fewer TAs means that undergraduate students will suffer from large class sizes and less individual attention. 

• Refusing to implement the new two-year appointment guarantee for Postdocs

• Replacing Graduate Instructors with unpaid undergraduate ‘assistants’ Our undergraduates should be receiving the quality education they were promised by the UC, not forced to take up the labor of existing instructors to avoid paying workers.

• Shrinking the size of labs and research groups by enrolling fewer students and forcing graduate workers to graduate early or “Master-out” 

• Decrease future PhD enrollment by up to a third Despite the UC’s compact with Governor Newsom to increase graduate enrollment by 2500 students by the year 2027, various campuses are threatening to cut enrollment to adjust for wages won in our contracts. The UC agreed to these contracts, they should be able to pay for them without cutting enrollment.
  
• Paying first year fellows doing ASE/GSR work below the rates set in our contracts

UC CAN AFFORD TO FULLY STAFF ITS RESEARCH AND TEACHING MISSION AND TO FULLY IMPLEMENT THE CONTRACT THAT THEY AGREED TO

UC PRESIDENT DRAKE HAS SAID THAT NO CUTS TO EMPLOYMENT OR ENROLLMENT ARE NECESSARY, EVEN AS DEPARTMENTS CONTINUE TO PLAN THEM.

• At a meeting withe UC regents in March of 2023, President Michael Drake directly denied any enrollment or employment cuts to the regents, despite mounting evidence to the contrary.