Any UC staff interested in organizing with UAW can sign a union authorization card or get in contact with an organizer by emailing unionize@uc-uaw.org. Get in touch today to find out if others in your job classification are already represented or seeking union recognition.

Forming a union for workers who are joining an existing staff unit can move quickly when you and your co-workers in the same job classification build mass support.  That will enable your group to seek recognition as part of UAW: normally by demonstrating that a majority have signed union authorization cards.  Once recognized, you can bargain the same terms and conditions that other staff have bargained, which will apply to you as soon as they have been democratically ratified.Get in touch with a colleague on the organizing committee to learn more about the process at unionize@uc-uaw.org.

Collective bargaining is a process, recognized and protected by state law, that equalizes the power relationship between employees and their employer. It allows us to build on gains that unionized workers have fought to win at UC and beyond. If we seek to join a unit that has already negotiated a strong contract, we will review that existing contract to decide if there are any additional terms we may wish to add to the agreement that are specific to our job titles. We will then seek to secure such terms through negotiations with UC. Throughout this process, we will make decisions democratically about how to win the best contract.

Without collective bargaining, UC has unilateral power to change our working conditions. For example, the UC administration currently decides unilaterally whether to provide non-union employees with annual raises or not, how much we pay for parking and healthcare, what our remote-work options are (if any), etc. By forming a union and winning certification under state law, we have a seat at the table with UC.

Tens of thousands of UC employees have unionized in recent years, including research and student services staff. Importantly, unionizing, and talking to coworkers about unionizing, is legally protected. It is unlawful for employers to retaliate against employees for union activity. 

Bargaining happens with the UC Office of the President, not individual supervisors, so relationships with supervisors are rarely impacted. In fact, many workers have found that their relationships with supervisors have improved because they no longer have to push their supervisors to advocate to address problems stemming from higher up. For instance, instead of pushing your supervisor to spend months or years advocating for a reclassification for you, you would be able to draw on terms that have been collectively bargained by staff to be far more transparent and allow you to more directly advocate for yourself with help from an elected union representative.

Workers joining UAW will not pay dues until after we are certified and completed any negotiations over our our union contract. Once we are protected by our union contract, each individual can decide whether or not to become a dues-paying member. Dues provide the resources to enable effective collective bargaining, enforcement of rights, and every aspect of having a strong union. UAW membership dues are 1.44% of gross income. Though dues are optional, a majority of all UC employees who have unionized with UAW have chosen to opt-in to paying dues because they've seen how they are able to advance their rights and improve their livelihoods through being part of a strong union.

Through unionization and collective bargaining, UAW staff at UC have won:

• Wage increases that outpace non-union workers at UC. In their recent contract, research and student services staff at UC won a minimum of a 27.8% wage increase over 4 years. This includes across-the-board increases not tied to performance evaluations and a step system that amounts to a minimum of a 2% annual raise in addition to ATBs.

• Automatic conversion of all contract employees to career appointments.

• Right to a stipend for taking on additional duties and out-of-class work.

• Annual caps on healthcare premium increases AND monthly subsidies on employee contributions.

• Fair standards for maintaining flexible work arrangements and right to request a new agreement or appeal modifications. 

• Enforceable protections against arbitrary, discriminatory, or inconsistent remote or other work arrangement decisions.

• Immediate action by management when allegations of bullying, harassment, or discrimination are made, and provision of interim measures to allow staff to continue to work free of bullying or harassment during the investigation process.

• Full enforceability by neutral third party arbitration of rights and protections against discrimination and harassment.

• Immediate workplace adjustments during disability accommodations process.

• Enforceable protections against biased or retaliatory performance evals.

• And more. Read more about the new UC-UAW staff contract here.

In UAW, workers decide democratically if and when to call a strike. In order to authorize a strike, a supermajority (more than 66% of voting members) must vote in favor. Though sometimes workers vote to strike to exert pressure on management, there are many other avenues for securing a strong contract. UC staff in the RPSP-UAW and SSAP-UAW units negotiated a strong first contract without striking, though they did vote to authorize a strike.

No - in fact UAW represented staff have recently negotiated improvements that would make it harder for managers to change remote or other work modalities arbitrarily.  These include the right to request a new agreement or appeal modifications, and enforceable protections against arbitrary, discriminatory, or inconsistent decisions. These remote work protections are the first of their kind for staff at UC. By unionizing, we have an opportunity to have a contract that formalizes what we already enjoy and ensures an employee-centered process for making changes.