UC student employee union president explains UC strike – Everything Law and Order Blog

The largest strike in the US since 2019 is currently underway across University of California campuses. 48,000 teaching assistants, postdocs, researchers and graders on the front lines of teaching and research at California’s prestigious public university system are seeking a minimum annual salary of $54,000 and increased child-care benefits, saying they do not earn enough to live in the state. They also accuse the university of breaking the law and not bargaining in good faith with their union, the United Auto Workers. UAW Local 2865 president and UCLA English PhD candidate Rafael Jamie joins TRNN editor-in-chief Maximillian Alvarez to discuss the historic strike. This interview was recorded on Monday, Nov. 12.

The Real News is an independent, viewer-supported, radical media network. Help us expand our in-depth analysis and coverage from Baltimore to Bangladesh by subscribing and becoming a member today!

Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-yt
Sign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-yt

Like us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnews
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

** (Disclaimer: This video content is intended for educational and informational purposes only) **

The Real News is a viewer-supported media network bringing you the stories from the frontlines of the fight for a better world.

By elboriyorker

HOSTING BY PHILLYFINESTSERVERSTAT | ANGELHOUSE © 2009 - 2024 | ALL YOUTUBE VIDEOS IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF GOOGLE INC. THE YOUTUBE CHANNELS AND BLOG FEEDS IS MANAGED BY THERE RIGHTFUL OWNERS. POST QUESTION OR INQUIRIES SEND ME AN EMAIL TO elboriyorkeratgmailcom (www.phillyfinest369.com)

33 thoughts on “UC student employee union president explains UC strike”
  1. Even uneducated high school dropouts working inside a warehouse making more money than these people here. I actually thought it was a typo when I saw how little it was too!!!

  2. The UC schools TAs make more than UC adjunct faculty. Right now, they are making at least double. They should not get more than the adjunct professors who are truly being taken advantage of. Adjuncts in the UCs don't even get health benefits – just $12,000/ yr. That's it. Unbelievable that this is even allowed when adjunct professors do the same or often more work than tenured professors. TAs are asking for $55,000 -75,000 when they only work part-time and they're just students. Adjunct faculty have degrees, MA or PhDs. What they're asking for is so ridiculous and a slap in the face to adjunct faculty.

  3. Laughing my ass off! You just described the entirety of the California economic system for every single person who lives here. The college system is one of the absolute most corrupt systems in the entire world. Now you know what the rest of us have known for a very long time.

  4. Right on!!!✊✊✊ as a ex-part time ESOL instructor at Laney College in Oakland/Contra Costa College in Richmond, CA & DVC I wish our $ellout unions had the guts to do the same (70% higher ed=part time…at least it was till I had to bounce in 2019)! Now I sell coffee at flea markets in another country…good luck & keep fightin' fo the good.

  5. I agree that TA RA PD must should be paid >USD60K. I was a very very poor PG at WVU in 1983-1985 getting about USD500 from my sponsor every month🤑🥵

  6. The CAPITALIZATION of higher ed started some decades ago

    via ALL THAT GRANT MONEY COMING FROM THE MILITARY/INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX.

    Went on from there by CAPITALISTS PILING-ON in any number of ways, eg,
    all that "teaching" now done by **students?!** while the "professors" sit back and write and do appearances, eg,
    today's top level college football

    IS NOTHING BUT THE NFL EXPLOITATION OF YOUNG MEN IN WHAT IS, IN EFFECT, THE **MINOR LEAGUES** OF THE NFL. I'm sure ticket prices at bigtime college games are thru the roof, too.

  7. People must realize that workers are workers no matter what that work encompasses. From farmers to factory workers to service employees and even cops, fire fighters and soldiers, if you work, you are a worker. In reality, even the managers are workers and theoretically should be in league with the labor movement.

  8. i have an idea quit and into look into a different kind of work. i made a good living as a car dealership mechanic changing oil doing inspections. that would screw over the university more then them giving you a raise.

  9. Trump said "Make America Great Again (Maga) Right or Wrong Headed ? Inflation with a Elitist – Oligarchy System with Tax Free Charities 🎩💰🎩🤡

  10. It's a sorry testament that you have to ask the audience to be compassionate to smart people who have academic talent, who qualified not only for grad school but for an assistantship. We have come to a point in our politics where people have to apologize for wanting to better themselves lest they insult someone who inherited a drywall contracting company or someone who went into the military or who went straight into service work. There is too much hate toward the people who pursue higher education, as if they made a "choice" that necessarily puts down everyone else. We need people to be educated and informed, to know how to evaluate information and not be easily led by the media and our elected officials who definitely have college degrees if not also professional degrees. And yes, I am very sympathetic to people who are striving to improve their minds and qualify for the jobs they could excel in when they are taken advantage of. Many do not get their goal jobs and still end up in the military or service work, but having them among the masses is still a benefit to society.

  11. While this is actually the second-largest strike in higher education – specifically at the University of California – in history, it's the first one of this size mostly composed of educators and others involved directly in education. The evolution of these strikes and the connection between these struggles is so important. Speaking as the past VP of CWA 9119, the largest local of the Communications Workers of America, until we finally unite these struggles across union and sector, we must continue to relentlessly make each other aware of the larger movement that we are a part of. When my union struck in 2018 and 19, we hoped that UAW would join us, and I am heartened to see the academic workers show their solidarity on the picket line today.

  12. Great job reporting on this!! I attended to UCLA years ago, and I saw the inequalities then!! This has got to stop! GO UNION!!! ✊️

  13. $54,000 is chicken feed in California. The local housing should be subsidized far more for these workers. You can’t find affordable housing even 20 miles away there.

  14. Kudos to Maximillian Alvarez for covering the UC student employee strike !  
    University workers of today and coal miners of the 19th century share pretty much the same "Company Town" story of EXPLOITATION.

    Universities are essentially COMPANY TOWNS. “ Without external competition, housing costs and groceries in company towns could become exorbitant, and the workers built up large debts that they were required to pay off
    before leaving. “
    — “Slavery by Another Name," PBS (2021)

    Underpaying university workers is tantamount to the mining/factory industrialists clawing back the earnings of workers by charging high rents and paying worker wages in company store credits.

  15. I wish them all the luck in the world! I dropped out of a PhD program at UCLA because the pay as a TA and research assistant was too low to lead a "normal" life as I understood it, at least in a high-housing cost area like LA. That said, I will be jealous if they succeed!

Comments are closed.