Nearly 40,000 workers across the University of California system are hitting the picket lines as part of a two day strike.
The contracts for patient care employees and service workers are up, and the union representing them and the UC system can’t come to an agreement on new wages, benefits, and staffing levels.
This strike started across the state at midnight and will last through 11:59 tomorrow night.
The strike against the UCLA health system is one of the biggest across the UC campuses.
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The union representing them says the university illegally increased their healthcare costs by hundreds of dollars each month – when it sidestepped bargaining.
Employees say that facilities are understaffed and they need to make more money to afford housing.
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.
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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, the University of California and AFSCME bargaining teams met 22 times and worked collaboratively on proposals for the UC AFSCME-represented employees."
Until the university and the union can come to an agreement, UCLA health says all of its health care facilities are open and operational during the union strike.
There will be no impact on patient care in hospitals and clinics.
Anyone who has an appointment is asked to come early in case picketing blocks streets.
