AFSCME Local 3229

Local union researchers revealed findings Tuesday that indicate the UC system may be able to avoid austerity measures such as cutting salaries when dealing with the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

After UC system employee complaints on outsourcing, Regents Policy 5402 went into effect Feb. 15, giving the UC system a one-year timeline to terminate unnecessary contracts with external suppliers.

Although AFSCME’s recent tentative agreement with the university gives only service workers a contract, it is a step in the right direction.

The Labor Center defines low-wage workers as those earning less than two-thirds of the median full-time wage in California. Workers making less than $14.35 per hour are considered “low-wage” workers. Roughly 4,900,000 people in California are earning low wages

The UC’s failure to act has led to U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, backing out of speaking at UC Berkeley’s 2018 commencement ceremony. Although this news disappointed many graduating seniors, it has rightly elevated the urgency of this issue.

More than 400 workers, students and community members took to the streets Wednesday in a rally organized by AFSCME Local 3299 to protest widening racial and gender pay gaps in the UC workforce.

After nearly seven months of campaigning, 69 previously subcontracted workers have officially been insourced as UC employees, ending an ongoing campus speakers’ boycott.

At its Tuesday meeting, Berkeley City Council adopted a resolution to support UC Berkeley’s subcontracted workers and endorse AFSCME Local 3299’s speakers’ boycott on campus.

Protesters took the stage during a campus event Wednesday evening held at Zellerbach Hall, resulting in one arrest and several other citations, according to UCPD spokesperson Sabrina Reich.

After more than two years of bargaining, the University of California announced Sunday that it reached a tentative agreement on labor contracts for the system’s more than 12,000 researchers, technical employees and healthcare professionals.