Nearly 48,000 employees across all 10 University of California campuses went on strike this week. These union members — including postdoctoral scholars, academic researchers and graduate students employed as instructors, teaching assistants and tutors, among other roles — are demanding higher pay, child care payments, better working conditions and access to affordable housing.
It’s no mystery why 98% of the United Auto Workers members who cast a vote on the strike supported it. The average UC system grad student worker makes $24,000 annually — nearly $15,000 less than the average apartment in Santa Cruz costs a year. That’s obviously an impossible wage to live on.
As a former TA and a current professor, I know as well as anyone the value of these workers’ positions in a university system. In my experience, most university professors are provided a teaching assistant, some several, depending on the size of the class and the position of the professor. With some variation, most TAs are in charge of all student interaction outside of class. In other words, if a student has a question, they meet in person with or email the TA, not the professor.
