On the Picket Line

University of California teaching assistants strike for over a month

By Deborah Liatos
January 2, 2023

LOS ANGELES — As the strike of University of California workers reached its 31st day, hundreds of striking academic workers rallied at the U.C. campus here Dec. 14. They were joined by supporters, including faculty, students and members of UNITE HERE and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299. They marched around the campus, chanting and singing labor solidarity songs.

Nearly 48,000 University of California researchers, teaching assistants, graders and others went on strike Nov. 14 demanding higher wages, improved benefits and better working conditions.

“When I was a student, I didn’t know how the workers got paid,” striker Hunter Pauker, a graduate student researcher, told the Militant. ”Now I talk about the strike, especially to the undergrads.”

UAW and university officials announced a tentative agreement Dec. 16 that workers will vote on.