University of California Strike Concludes

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Dozens of service workers and their supporters rallied outside of the University of California at San Francisco campus and hospital Wednesday, on their third and final day of a statewide strike at 10 UC campuses.

The strike, which began Monday, was organized by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Service Unit and is seeking better wages for its about 25,000 service and patient care technical
workers in the UC system, following a year of stalled contract talks.

The workers also want to improve conditions for women and workers of color in the UC system after new research revealed rising inequality for low-wage workers, according to AFSCME Local 3299 officials.

"Service workers are about the lowest paid workers in the UC system. They average about $40,000 a year," said AFSCME Local 3299 spokesman Todd Stenhouse.

"The biggest issue for us has always been outsourcing... Jobs that were once middle class are now being outsourced to low wage contractors who treat their employees horrible, paying them sub minimum wage," Stenhouse said. "For us, this a matter of basic dignity, basic respect. This is a matter of equality and our first job is to do something about the outsourcing that drives it."

A report released earlier this year by AFSCME Local 3299 titled Pioneering Inequality, found that in the UC system, average starting wages of women of color are 10 to 23 percent lower than the starting wages of white
men.

The report also found that the number of black workers in the UC system dropped by 37 percent between 1996 and 2015. In addition, according to the study, black workers are more likely to work for low-wage outsourcing companies contracted by the UC, resulting in less earnings compared to a direct UC employee doing a similar job.

"There's an inequality problem and an outsourcing problem and for a year UC has been utterly and completely tone deaf," Stenhouse said.The employees on strike include nurses, operating room specialists, patient care assistants, pharmacy technicians and pharmacists, phlebotomists, psychologists, research coordinators and social workers, as well as custodians, food service workers and shuttle drivers, according to UC officials.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom was scheduled to appear at the rally but, at the last minute, was unable to attend.

Four other union bargaining units and the California Nurses Association are striking in sympathy with the AFSCME Service Unit. The striking workers include clinical staff important to the care of patients,
according to university officials.

"This strike is challenging for us," Sheila Antrum, senior vice president and chief operating officer of UCSF Health, said in a statement Monday. "The next few days will be disruptive to our patients and their
families, as well as for our staff and caregivers, and our broader community."

UCSF officials set forth a contingency plan during the three-day strike and, according Stenhouse, further patient protections and patient safety measures were put in place in the event the UC contingency plans fell
through. The hospital's emergency department and most ambulatory clinics have remained open.

"You have an institution that talks about pioneering a better future and being an engine of social mobility. Well, if you're a UC service worker, what you see is a monument to inequality," Stenhouse said. "Making
$40,000 in the most expensive city in North America isn't going to get you very far. We got members here who are single moms who work three or four jobs. When is UC going to be pioneering a better future to the public servants who give their life to it?"

— Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock