The University of California is celebrating their 150th anniversary, dubbed “150 Years of Pioneering a Better Future,” but a recent report conducted by AFSCME Local 3299, the largest employee union in the UC, has found the UC system has instead been a pioneer in inequality. In the report, the union found drastic and increasing inequality between the highest and lowest paid employees. It also found wide gaps in gender and racial disparity in management, as well as wage, gender, and racial disparities among workers represented by AFSCME 3299. They also found widespread outsourcing of union jobs to lower-paid contractors, a practice designed to skirt fair pay and labor conditions.
After over a year of bargaining in good faith, the intransigent UC management has only deepened the income, racial, and gender disparities created by UC’s outsourcing and other unfair employment practices. This has forced AFSCME 3299 workers no option other than to strike, and they have planned actions at all UC campuses and medical centers May 7th, 8th, and 9th.
The professional, technical, and research workers of UPTE and the nurses of CNA will also be striking in sympathy with AFSCME 3299.
To express solidarity with our sisters and brothers of AFSCME 3299, tag them in social media posts and use these hashtags: #3299Strong, #inequality, #UCUnionsUnited, #solidarity.
