UAW 2865 membership voted to ratify our current contract with the University of California in August 2018. This contract guarantees many new benefits to workers in the UC system, including the following:
30%
Base wage increase since 2865’s founding in 2000, compared to non-unionized academic workers at UC.
- Higher wages and first-ever partial waiver of UC campus fees: Student-workers won annual wage increases of 3% and an annual $300 waiver of campus fees. For the typical student-worker, this is equivalent to a 3.6% increase in take-home pay.
- Expanded family benefits: Total childcare subsidies rose to $1,100 per quarter (or $1,650 per semester). UC administration agreed to improved standards for lactation stations and a map of such stations on their website.
- Protections against sexual harassment and racial discrimination: UC administration agreed to interim measures so that student-workers who have reported harassment or discrimination can continue working and learning in a safe environment. Student-workers also gained the right to use the union grievance process concurrently with a Title IX investigation, and the right to survivor-centered remedies.
- Paid leave for immigration hearings: Student-workers are now entitled to paid leaves to attend immigration-related appointments and hearings for themselves or family members. UC will notify the worker and our union whenever an immigration official makes an inquiry regarding one of our members. The university will also have to affirmatively request any immigration officials to follow the law, and to present valid warrants in order to enter campus. Any worker who loses work authorization due to changing immigration laws will now be contractually guaranteed a meeting with supervisors upon regaining status to work together to find adequate reemployment.
- Accommodations for workers with disabilities: Student-workers now have guaranteed rights to reasonable accommodations for disabilities and to provide input in the process of securing those accommodations.
- Paid contract orientations: Our union now has expanded rights to make sure that all student-workers in the UC system understand their contractual rights, including a stipulation that new workers are paid to attend union orientations.
- All-gender restroom expansion: All single-occupancy restrooms in the UC system are now all-gender, and each campus is required to provide a map of all-gender restrooms on their website.
- Committee to address campus policing: In light of incidents of police brutality in the UC system, student-workers have won the right to meet with UC management to discuss and address the effects of campus policing on our working conditions.