We are academic workers united in the collective struggle for a better UC. We believe all UC workers deserve:
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- wages that allow us to live in the communities where we work
- job security
- recognition for our professionalism and academic contributions
- diverse and inclusive working, teaching, and learning environments
- equitable participation in decision-making in our departments and the governance of our university
As the third largest employer in the State of California and one of the largest public university systems in the nation, the University of California should be committed to these principles as well. But in the past four decades, the UC administration has embraced neoliberal managerialism, transforming the state’s largest public university into a corporate bureaucracy. Shared campus governance has been replaced with top-down corporate management structures that have wasted millions of tuition and taxpayer dollars on administrative bloat, devalued scholarship, and co-opted concepts of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice to legitimize inequitable corporate power structures. Decades of budget cuts and neglect of critical services has resulted in library closures and reductions in core staff of cataloguers, archivists, subject specialists who make them run. Our students have been reduced to customers and our roles deprofessionalized, damaging the quality of undergraduate instruction at UC.
Rather than invest in research and teaching, the university seems more interested in engendering constant growth and diversifying their portfolio with real estate investments that displace the very community members that the university system purports to cherish and serve. We remain dedicated to the UC’s public mission to serve the public good, not maximize profits with exploitative tuition and remuneration policies.
Our Union’s commitment to democracy and transparency pushes back against non-transparent, administrative fiat and advocates shared governance and collective action. We share in our commitment to public service and to nurturing the next generation of citizens, scholars, and leaders. We care for our students, our campuses, our families, and each other. Together, we work to create a UC where experience is valued, where every student has the support they deserve, and every worker is treated with dignity and respect.
