LOS ANGELES — About 48,000 unionized academic workers across the University of California’s 10 campuses — who perform the majority of teaching and research at the state’s premier higher education system — walked off the job Monday morning, calling for better pay and benefits.
The systemwide strike includes teaching assistants, postdoctoral scholars, graduate student researchers, tutors and fellows, as well as workers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and it has already caused multiple disruptions to scheduled classes, just weeks before final exams.
The strike marks the largest work stoppage of the year so far, and union leaders say it will also be the biggest at any academic institution in history. UCLA workers joined the picket line at 8 a.m., demonstrating with signs, T-shirts and chants at multiple locations across campus, as did groups at UC San Diego, UC Santa Cruz and UC Merced.
