It's now day two of a strike involving UC workers across California where thousands will hit the picket lines again Thursday morning.
There has been a lot of back and forth between the union and the university.
The UC system claims that the union stopped responding to them all together, even to a proposal that raised wages to 25 dollars an hour – by July of next year.
Those behind the picket line take care of patients and their needs. They include radiologists, phlebotomists, medical assistants, custodians, security guards and food service workers.
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Employees say facilities are understaffed and they need to make more money to afford housing.
The union representing the thousands of workers also claims the university illegally increased their healthcare costs by hundreds of dollars each month when it sidestepped bargaining.
A woman who’s worked for UCLA health care for decades tells NBC4 that those health care costs are a burden.
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“That affects a lot of us. It affects me because part of my medication right now I have to go get it in Mexico right now because it’s a lot cheaper so living paycheck to paycheck and then taking that extra trip that I don’t need is money that I don’t have,” Rosalba Montoya, a UCLA health care worker on strike, said.
The University of California is responding to the strike, saying in part:
"We fundamentally disagree with AFSCME’s claims of bad faith bargaining and characterization of unacceptable bargaining proposals. From January to May, University of California and AFSCME bargaining teams met 22 times and worked collaboratively on proposals for the UC AFSCME-represented employees."
As the back and forth continues, so does this strike. It’s expected to last till 11:59 tonight.
Workers’ tents were still set up and the picket line is expected to form again at 7:00 this morning.
UCLA health says that anyone with an appointment or who needs medical care won’t be impacted and will be seen.
