Tanzil Chowdhury

To grease the wheels on months-long contract negotiations, UC Berkeley and UAW 2865 have picked a mediator: Sacramento mayor Darrell Steinberg.

The California Public Employment Relations Board received an unfair labor practice charge Friday from UAW 2865, which alleges that the university has violated the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act on at least 13 accounts.

After weeks of bargaining, UC Berkeley and UAW 2865 remain split on wages, fee remission and hiring levels for EECS and data science course staff. 

About 60 academic workers, students, faculty, staff and Union Auto Workers, or UAW, 2865 leaders convened at Li Ka Shing Center on Wednesday to discuss the impacts and potential redress of cases of staff overwork in EECS and data science courses in a town hall meeting. 

With the academic worker strike at the University of California now in its fifth week, national union members and labor experts predict wide-ranging impacts on the landscape of higher education.

After months of bargaining, the United Auto Workers, or UAW, union that represents postdoctoral scholars, academic researchers, academic student employees and graduate student researchers has had enough. At 8 a.m. this morning, 48,000 academic workers across the UC system have gone on strike. As of press time, there is no end in sight.

The university agreed Wednesday to recognize Student Researchers United, or SRU, a union representing 17,000 student researchers employed by the UC system.

Members of the UAW Student Researchers United and UAW Local 5810 for postdoctoral students hosted a joint rally against union busting on campus.

In the wake of cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, strikes for higher graduate student wages, pay remains close to California minimum wage.