ISLA VISTA, Calif. – Members of the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE) labor union have authorized a statewide strike at all University of California campuses, major laboratories, and medical centers for May 1, 2025.
This will be the third strike authorized this year by the labor organization.
According to the UPTE, the strike was authorized in response to a decision to freeze all hiring across the UC system announced on March 19, 2025, while the union and education system have been negotiating new labor contracts for almost a year.
"As we've emphasized throughout our communications—in early April, February, and last November—the University of California remains steadfast in our commitment to reaching fair contract agreements with AFSCME and UPTE," stated Heather Hansen, a spokesperson on behalf of the University of California system in an emailed response to Your News Channel Wednesday. "In this era of political instability and significant funding challenges, we aim to collectively align with our labor partners to advocate for UC's continued mission and impact. UC returns to the bargaining table with AFSCME tomorrow after receiving assurances from the Union that it is prepared to make substantive movement on proposals—a flexibility we've consistently demonstrated since January 2024. Despite our repeated outreach and willingness to negotiate, UPTE continues to decline our invitations to return to the bargaining table. We believe the unions will recognize our common challenges and understand the importance of reaching a consensus on several key issues rather than maintaining adversarial positions. The current situation presents opportunities for collaborative approaches that could benefit the University of California system and its valued employees."
The decision to impose a hiring freeze without prior opportunity to bargain is considered by UPTE to have been an unlawful action and the labor group is demanding that the UC system rescind the hiring freeze for its bargaining units.
UPTE noted a growing list of alleged unfair labor practices levied against the statewide education system in Wednesday's announcement of another strike.
"I oversee cancer trials for new, experimental treatments meant to help the sickest, most vulnerable cancer patients. Our trials are often the last hope for our patients and their families, with many patients having exhausted all other standard of care options. High turnover among Clinical Research Coordinators means that patients suffer by being delayed or deterred from enrollment onto trials that may be the key to successfully fighting their cancer," explained Alexis Alvarado, a Hematology/Oncology staff research associate at UCLA. "I'm tired of carrying the guilt that comes from UC’s continued exploitation of our humanity and dedication to our patients through their refusal to address the staffing crisis and their decision to implement a hiring freeze. This is not the time for UC to stop investing in frontline workers and prioritizing patients, students, and the life-saving research that Californians depend on."
The system-wide hiring freeze surprised local students and all ten University of California campuses were asked to, "implement cost-saving measures, such as delaying maintenance and reducing business travel where possible" in March.
"Due to the financial uncertainties facing the University system, which was communicated by President Drake on March 19, the University of California, like many institutions of higher education across the nation, instituted a hiring freeze," explained Hansen. "Each UC location is implementing the hiring freeze based on its unique needs and financial constraints. Many locations have already put stricter hiring review processes in place; for those locations, the systemwide hiring freeze did not result in a change in their existing hiring practices. We have been clear with our stakeholders, including UPTE and AFSCME, that the hiring freeze does not alter or diminish our existing commitments under collective bargaining agreements or established policies. We have also made it clear to AFSCME and UPTE that while we believe all of the negotiable effects of the hiring freeze are already covered by the parties' collective bargaining agreement, we would be happy to meet and confer over any additional negotiable impacts. As of today, the unions have not agreed to a meeting."
During a California Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Education Finance meeting in February, UC President Drake noted, "We [the UC system] have thousands of vacant positions that we continue to roll vacant year after year and use that funding to be able to support the gaps that we have. The Chancellor mentioned that we have cost pressures. We have a large workforce."
According to the labor group, the UC system has publicly stated it has a budget surplus and some of that saved money is due to vacancy rates that are three-times higher than pre-COVID 19 staffing levels.
"UC emerged from the COVID-19 hiring freeze by announcing robust financials, and proceeded to acquire or build nearly a dozen hospitals in a 12-month window. As our system's referral base has increased, our staffing has not kept pace with the increased patient volume. In the last two months my department has lost two surgeons, soon to be three audiologists, a speech therapist, and an award-winning physician assistant," shared Matt Stephen, a Senior Physician Assistant at UC San Francisco. "I recently saw a patient for idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss who was unable to obtain an appointment for weeks for a condition that can easily be treated if recognized and treated with steroids early. I have had to tell far too many patients in the last few years that their delays in obtaining diagnostic testing and care negatively impacted their chances at recovery. How much longer can UC continue to turn a blind eye or deaf ear to these issues?"
UPTE added that, "UC’s management staff grew by 42.5%, while the number of frontline professional and support staff increased by only 18.6% in the past five years. The University plans to spend $30 billion on land acquisition and capital projects in the next six years and is sitting on $26.2 billion in liquid capital, all while frontline workers are expected to do more with less."
The University of California Santa Barbara employs more than 10,000 people, the single largest employer in Santa Barbara County.
"UC should not cower to the threats coming out of DC. It has abundant resources and must set an example of what strong public institutions should be. UC’s duty is to always prioritize the real patients, students, and people of California. We are calling on UC to engage in meaningful bargaining with us and end this hiring freeze, which is only going to make the growing staffing crisis worse," argued Dan Russell, UPTE President and a Business Technical Support Analyst at UC Berkeley.
The UPTE represents about 19,200 employees within the UC system and is negotiating a collective bargaining agreement on behalf of the Healthcare Professionals bargaining unit which expired on Sep. 30, 2024, and a collective bargaining agreement for Technical and Research bargaining units which expired on Oct. 31, 2024.
Union representing professional and technical University of California employees authorizes statewide strike on May 1, 2025 News Channel 3-12.
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