Jump to content

Student Researchers United-UAW

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Zaelzo (talk | contribs) at 19:35, 22 May 2022 (Submitting using AfC-submit-wizard). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.


SRU-UAW
Formation2021
Region
California
Websitehttps://studentresearchersunited.org/

Student Researchers United-UAW (SRU-UAW) is a union representing student researchers at the University of California (UC). It is part of the United Auto Workers.[1] The union is comprised of more than 17,000 people who work across 10 UC campuses and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.[2] They are the largest 2021 addition to the UAW, account for 0.1% of union members in the US, and, according to organizers, are "the largest academic student employee union in US history."[3][4][5]

History

Beginnings

Research assistants were not considered employees in California until the passage of state legislation from Nancy Skinner, SB 201, in 2017.[6][7][8] The UC opposed this legislation.[9] Planning for the union began in early 2020.[6]

2021

To advocate for the union, organizers submitted more than 10,000 union authorization cards to California's Public Employers Relations Board and gathered more than 5,000 signatures from student researchers on a resolution in support of union recognition.[1][3] In October 2021, a group of congresspeople that included a majority of the California congressional delegation and was led by Katie Porter sent a letter to Michael V. Drake, president of the UC, in support of the union.[10] A group of 49 state legislators led by Buffy Wicks sent a similar letter on November 18, 2021.[4][11][7] In November 2021, a majority of student workers voted to strike.[12] The University of California recognized the union in December 2021.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Nast, Condé (2021-06-24). "Thousands of Student Researchers Are Unionizing". Teen Vogue. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  2. ^ a b "University Of California Recognizes Graduate Student Researchers' Union". LAist. 2021-12-16. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  3. ^ a b Banks, Jess; Akhtar, Ahmed (2021-12-17). "How the Largest Union Fight of 2021 Was Won". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  4. ^ a b Howard, Phoebe Wall. "UAW grows by 17,000 academic workers in California after threat to strike UC". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  5. ^ "17,000 University of California Researchers Could Soon Win a Union". jacobinmag.com. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  6. ^ a b "Amid pandemic disruptions, grad students push to unionize". www.science.org. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  7. ^ a b Staff, Julie Madsen | Senior (2021-11-23). "10K UC student researchers authorize a strike to recognize their union". The Daily Californian. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  8. ^ Dec 31, Nicholas Liu Fri; 2021 | 2:31pm (2021-12-31). "UC Student Researchers Union Gains Recognition". The Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved 2022-05-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ "Beyond Bruin Walk: California must do more to support employee unions, labor-friendly laws". Daily Bruin. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  10. ^ Hanshaw, Annelise (2021-12-14). "University of California recognizes Student Researchers United". Santa Barbara News-Press. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  11. ^ "UC Student Researchers Threaten To Strike If Union Goes Unrecognized". LAist. 2021-11-23. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  12. ^ "Recognition strike: UC student researchers favor walk out". Capitol Weekly. 2021-12-07. Retrieved 2022-05-22.