UC and UAW Reach Tentative Agreements for GSRs and ASEs

Dear Bruin Community:

We are pleased to share that the University of California (UC) and United Auto Workers (UAW) bargaining teams have reached tentative agreements on new contracts (PDF) for academic student employees (ASEs) and graduate student researchers (GSRs). With these agreements, student employees are expected to return to work and cease picketing. If ratified by the membership of the bargaining units, these contract agreements would bring an end to the strike that began more than one month ago.

Under the tentative agreements, UC would provide baseline salary scales for ASEs, including teaching assistants, and GSRs, as well as multiyear pay increases, paid dependent access to university health care and enhanced paid family leave benefits. The contracts would place our graduate student employees among the best supported in public higher education.

In the next several days, ASEs and GSRs represented by the UAW are expected to vote on ratification of the contracts. Members of two other UAW-represented bargaining units, UC’s postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers, returned to work and ratified their contracts last week.

Our university’s academic workers play a critical role in advancing our educational and research mission, and we are grateful that the UC and UAW bargaining teams have reached these tentative agreements. We also extend our thanks to mediator Darrell Steinberg for facilitating the discussions.

As always, information and resources related to the negotiations and academic enterprise during the strike are available on the Strike Updates and Support web page.

Darnell Hunt
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost

Michael S. Levine
Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel

Lubbe Levin
Associate Vice Chancellor, Campus Human Resources