UC System Admin Workers to Go on Strike

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA -- Administrative workers at all 10 University of California campuses will go on strike in early January, along with workers at five medical centers and the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, according to a spokesman for the workers' labor union.

The system-wide Teamsters Local 2010 strike by administrative workers, planned for Jan. 10, is in solidarity with a planned five-day strike at the University of California at Los Angeles, Teamsters union spokesman
Christian Castro said.

Castro said that Teamsters would give the university more than the legally required 10-day notice to transfer patients and ensure that students, staff, faculty and the public are protected from harm.

The UCLA strike by skilled trades workers including electricians, elevator mechanics, plumbers and facilities workers, is scheduled for Jan. 6 to Jan. 10.

Teamsters workers have seen their wages drop 24 percent over the last two decades, Castro said, adding that 92 percent can't afford basic necessities.

In October, UC spokeswoman Dianne Klein said that Teamsters workers on average make $43,600 annually and enjoy a "heavily subsidized" healthcare package, overtime pay and a pension program.

A survey of 2,890 of these union workers, released by the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College on Oct. 17, found that 70 percent lacked reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.

UC officials did not immediately return a request for comment.

Bay City News contributed to this story/Image via public domain