BERKELEY – The California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) has issued a complaint against the UC system on six counts related to retaliation against academic workers at UCSD. Among other violations, PERB’s complaint argues that UC retaliated against academic workers, that they unilaterally changed conditions of employment, and that they unlawfully consulted with the UCSD Office of Student Conduct.
In May, UCSD issued dozens of student misconduct complaints against academic workers for attending a protest against UC’s failure to abide by the contracts they signed in 2022. At the end of June, UCSD police arrested three academic workers and charged them with felonies for allegedly chalking a campus building. PERB’s complaint covers both those incidents.
“This vindicates what academic workers have been saying for months: that UC’s actions are unlawful retaliation,” said Adu Vengal, Recording Secretary of UAW Local 2865 and a PhD student in the Math department at UCSD. “We hope that PERB’s decision will bring UC management to their senses and that they’ll provide what they agreed to when they signed our contracts: raises, appointment security provisions, and interim protections for survivors of abuse and discrimination.”