California Academic Workers Are Rising Up

By SETH SANDRONSKY

In California, academic workers facing unacceptable conditions on the job are organizing and protesting for improvements. From the RAND Corp. in Santa Monica to the University of California system and Stanford Univ. in Palo Alto, these workers are seeking progressive change.

We turn to graduate student researchers (GSR) at the Pardee Rand Graduate School (PRGS) at the RAND Corp., a think tank and government contractor. They have voted 51-26 — 66% for union formation into PRGS Organizes-United Auto Workers (PRGSO-UAW). The National Labor Relations Board tallied the vote.

“We are excited that our graduate worker community was able to come together to decisively win this election,” said Tara Blagg, a fourth-year GSR, in a statement. “We are looking forward to bargaining with our employer to improve working conditions and create a more equitable environment for us to contribute to RAND.”

PRGS is a graduate program of the RAND Corp. There, GSRs work on research involving education, healthcare, social welfare and the military.

Meanwhile, in the UC system, academic workers in United Auto Workers 2865 announced that thousands of GSRs have gotten full back pay—some up to $10,000—and retroactive benefits, effective the beginning of 2023. According to the union, UC has a history of underpaying GSRs.

“It’s really exciting to see our organizing win hundreds of thousands of dollars of owed wages for academic workers at UC,” said Iris Rosenblum-Sellers, a graduate student instructor (GSI) in the UC Berkeley Math department in a statement, and one of the top grievance handlers. “We have a contract that sets the rates people get paid at — the UC doesn’t just get to choose.” 

UAW 2865 represents 36,000-plus UC workers. They range from academic student employees to teaching assistants, GSRs, GSIs, tutors, and readers across the public university system. 

Turning to private universities in California, Stanford is one of, if not the most prestigious institution of higher education. Apparently, Stanford Health Care did not get that memo.

Just ask the resident and fellow physicians of Stanford Health Care. The Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR-Service Employees International Union) represent these 1,400 doctors, who can work up to 80 hours in a single week, yet find that paying for childcare, food and shelter is a struggle.

CIR-SEIU has been negotiating for seven months without a collective bargaining agreement. “Stanford Health Care,” according to a union statement, “which reported an operating profit of $788 million in 2022, has continued to engage in stalling tactics at the table, including abruptly calling off meetings and withholding key bargaining information. Amidst the Bay Area’s devastating cost-of-living crisis, the physicians say that inadequate pay for the area and a lack of support from Stanford has left many of them struggling” to make ends meet.

Stanford Health Care residents and fellow physicians along with house staff rallied with allies outside the hospital in late July. They called for higher pay, better job conditions and healthcare standards for the thousands of patients under their care around the Bay Area.

Seth Sandronsky lives and works in Sacramento. He is a journalist and member of the Pacific Media Workers Guild. Email sethsandronsky@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, September 1, 2023

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