Anti-Union Communications

Student Researchers only won the right to form a union in 2017, after over a decade of lobbying the California Legislature to be granted the same rights as other UC employees. Each time the legislature has considered a bill granting Student Researchers this right, UC opposed SRs even having the right to choose for themselves whether or not to form a union. Now that Student Researchers have won the right to form a union, UC claims to be “neutral” on unionization and urges researchers to “get the facts,” while hiding its own long history of anti-unionism. You can read more about that history here:

• In 2012, UC opposed SB 259. You can read what the Dean of Graduate Division at UC Berkeley had to say about Student Researcher unionization here. 
• In 2014, UC opposed AB 1834. You can read what all 10 Graduate Deans had to say about SR unionization here. “UC estimates collective bargaining and related contract administration costs would be costly for UC to implement… increases in GSR compensation (ranging from 3 to 7 percent) would add another $8.5 million to nearly $17 million.”
• In 2017, UC opposed SB 201. You can read why the Associate Vice President and Director of the University of California Office of the President had to say about why UC opposed SR unionization rights here. Among other reasons, “we anticipate initial costs of just over $12 million if a future GSR contract were to call for a 3 percent compensation increase, and over $16 million if a new GSR contract were to call for a 5 percent compensation increase.” (italicized in original)

Nowhere in any of these letters does UC mention that Student Researchers will negotiate our own contract and make our own decisions about what improvements we want, or provide any information on the kinds of improvements unionized Student Researchers have negotiated for at other Universities.