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Campus protest rules bill barely clears the Legislature. What was the debate?
www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article317117089.html#storylink=cpy
By Tarini Mehta September 7, 2026 5:00 AM
\UC Davis law students speak to a crowd of about 70 students during a walkout near Mrak Hall on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, as one of the campus' Egghead sculptures appears to join the protest. The students wore masks to protect their identity in fear of retaliation. RENÉE C. BYER rbyer@sacbee.com A bill pushing for greater transparency around implementation of campus protest rules at California’s public universities divided Democratic lawmakers in the final days the legislative session. After spirited debate in both the Senate and Assembly, it made it through with just enough votes in its favor. Now, it heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk for final approval. Assembly Bill 2551, authored by Assemblymember Sade Elhawary, D-Los Angeles, would require the California State University and request the University of California systems to provide annual data on student code of conduct violations during protests disaggregated by race and gender. The reports would have to include descriptions of the disciplinary action imposed on those students. TOP VIDEOS The measure also asks that campuses host open forums before the end of 2027 to elicit student feedback on current time, place, and manner policies that restrict when, where and how protests are conducted on campuses. Elhawary said during a committee hearing TPM policies were “intended to prevent hostile campus environments” but had arguably increased hostility for students of color. “Students of color report experiencing violent arrests at peaceful protests, targeted disciplinary actions, and bureaucratic barriers that suppress their right to protest, leading many student organizers to fear severe repercussions and reprisal,” Elhawary said. “As a former student activist myself while I was at UCLA, I care deeply about empowering all students and protecting their abilities to organize and advocate. Through data collection and student hearings, this bill helps ensure the equitable and consistent enforcement of time, place and manner policy.” What prompted the bill? The bill is a direct response to what the author calls unintended consequences of legislation passed in 2024. At that time, following encampments and rallies protesting the ongoing war in Gaza that swept campuses statewide, the legislature required the UC and CSU systems to develop uniform protest policies. Jewish groups reported antisemitic incidents on campuses. The state passed a law asking the CSU and UC systems to enforce those protest restrictions and “prohibit violent, harassing, intimidating or discriminatory conduct” that creates a hostile environment on campus. The UC and CSU prohibited encampments, restricted masking to conceal identity when violating policies and put in place disciplinary actions to be utilized against those in violation. Meanwhile, hundreds of student and faculty who participated in pro-Palestinian protests had already been slapped with legal and academic repercussions amid a crackdown on the movement. In the time since, some students say the implementation of protest policies and the disciplinary actions meted out to violators didn’t just create a chilling effect on campus but also disproportionately targeted Muslim, Black and Brown students. In a 2025 report, the Council on American-Islamic Relations-California — a sponsor of AB 2551 — raised concerns over the newly strengthened campus protest restrictions, especially given what it called “targeted enforcement” of the existing policies. The report said several California universities used law enforcement disproportionately in response to pro-Palestinian protests when compared with other events that violated the same policies. The University of California Student Association, a coalition of student governments across the system, has voiced similar concerns. However, these allegations of inequitable implementation are so far only anecdotal; there is no data to substantiate them. That’s the gap Elhawary’s bill seeks to fill, by mandating that universities provide data on violations of campus protest policies, disciplinary actions taken, and the affected students disaggregated by race and gender. Despite major amendments, the UC and CSU systems remained opposed to the bill throughout, worrying it could create uncertainty around their current policies and compromise student privacy. At a committee hearing Aug. 30, a UC spokesperson said disaggregation of the data could enable easy identification of involved students, given the number of total violations is a small number. In a February report, the UC system recorded 71 violations over a one-year period. The CSU system reported 201 violations in the 2024-2025 academic year. The California Faculty Association, which represents 29,000 professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors, and coaches at the CSU, was a sponsor and strong voice in favor of the bill. Why were lawmakers divided? The bill required a simple majority to pass in both the state Senate and Assembly. It passed 23-12 in the Senate and 44-8 in the Assembly with 27 lawmakers who were either absent or abstained. While the California Legislative Jewish Caucus took no formal position on the bill, six of its members in the Senate and Assembly raised concerns, including that its eventual intent was to repeal the student safety provisions they had fought for in the 2024 legislation that mandated comprehensive campus protest restrictions. An earlier version of Elhawary’s bill did include a provision to sunset that 2024 law by 2029. Following strong opposition from Jewish California, an umbrella advocacy organization for Jewish groups statewide, the bill was watered down to leave the time, place and manner policies intact while pushing for greater transparency and conversation around their implementation. “It was very concerning to our caucus to see an effort without a conversation to repeal that (2024) bill,” Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, D-Encino, said on the Assembly floor. “I worry that the intent of this bill is to begin a process that will ultimately result in the repealing of civil rights protections.” Other critics, like Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, chided the bill’s “rushed” process and said it wasn’t well-thought-out. In June, the author decided to “gut-and-amend” a healthcare bill she had authored and the Assembly had already passed, and replace its contents entirely with a new proposed law to address the students concerns in the current legislative session. That process, critics said, made for inadequate discussion on what is a controversial topic. Supporters of the bill urged their colleagues to see AB 2551 at face value as a “data bill” that affords the opportunity to evaluate the consequences of past legislation, and not on the basis of its pre-amendment version. “My daughter sits on a CSU campus. She talked to me about having the feeling of having her voice stifled because of the policies of the university,” said Assemblymember Mia Bonta, D-Alameda. “As legislators, we have to create the space to examine the implementation and the impact of the policies that move forward, so that we don’t have any student feeling like they are risking being able to continue on with their education because an individual campus may or may not have gotten this right.” The bill now awaits Newsom’s signature. The governor has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto bills passed by lawmakers.
Campus protest rules bill barely clears the Legislature. What was the debate?
www.sacbee.com
The bill now awaits Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature. He has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto bills passed by lawmakers.
Low-income patients at UCLA Health scramble to find new doctors as contract ends
www.latimes.com/business/story/2026-09-05/low-income-patients-at-ucla-health-scramble-to-find-new…
A sign outside Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
Thousands of low-income patients are losing access to doctors at UCLA Health after a Medi-Cal contract expired June 30. (Los Angeles Times)
LOS ANGELES, CA-SEPGTEMBER 25, 2014: Melody Petersen
By Melody Petersen
Staff Writer
Thousands of low-income patients, some seriously ill, are scrambling to find new doctors as they lose access to UCLA Health physicians after a longtime Medi-Cal contract was not renewed.
Under the contract that expired June 30, UCLA had been providing specialty care to 9,000 medically frail patients from Health Care LA, an association of nonprofit clinics that serve patients covered by Medi-Cal, the state program for the poor.
“Many of these patients have been waiting for months to be seen by UCLA specialty medicine providers and are now being told they cannot receive the care they desperately need,” Health Care LA said in a Thursday news release.
The patients had gone to UCLA for cancer and infectious-disease treatments, high-risk women’s services, major organ transplants and other specialty medicine care, the association said.
A Friday news conference that Health Care LA had scheduled to detail the problems patients faced in getting care was abruptly canceled when the two sides said they had reached a tentative agreement on how to transition the patients to other doctors over the next year.
“To help ensure a smooth transition for patients, both organizations have agreed that established UCLA Health patients, individuals with existing appointments, and patients requiring other agreed-upon services will continue to be cared for at UCLA Health facilities,” Phil Hampton, a university spokesman, said in a statement.
Although some patients will continue to be seen by UCLA doctors, he said, “accepting an unlimited number of new referrals presents challenges given existing capacity constraints and the need to preserve timely access for existing patients.”
Sabra Matovsky, chief executive of Health Care LA, said in an interview on Thursday that UCLA had declined to renegotiate the contract.
“They never even asked us for a raise,” she said, “They just want us out.”
Kaiser made $9.3 billion last year. Critics say it has strayed from its charitable mission
March 29, 2026
She said that university officials had pointed to “capacity issues” at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, including in the emergency room and dozens of specialty clinics.
“To solve this by pushing out Medi-Cal patients while you continue to expand and market and take on other patients is not a solution,” Matovsky said.
Hampton said UCLA had offered to extend the contract, but Health Care LA rejected the offer.
The end of the Medi-Cal contract disappointed some UCLA medical professionals who have been urging the public university to provide care to more of L.A. County’s low-income residents.
“It feels like this is profits over patients,” said Dr. Patrick Samones, a fellow at UCLA Health, who trained at the university in family medicine.
“UCLA is one of L.A.’s most important healthcare institutions,” said Samones, who represents members of the Committee of Interns and Residents, which is part of Service Employees International Union. “We feel it has a duty to serve all Californians.”
In recent years, UCLA Health has been expanding fast and now has almost 300 locations throughout Southern California, including in wealthier places such as Montecito, Malibu and Westlake Village.
At the same time, it provides less care to Medi-Cal patients than its sister university health systems: UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC San Francisco and UC Davis, according to university statistics.
Last year, about 15% of UCLA Health’s net patient service revenue came from Medi-Cal, according to the university health systems’ annual report. The four other UC health systems each received about 22% of that revenue from Medi-Cal.
About 40% of L.A. County residents are insured by Medi-Cal, according to a recent report by the California Health Care Foundation.
Los Angeles , CA – June 04, 2026 : Kaiser Permanente at 4867 Sunset Blvd as a growing group of Kaiser Permanente patients and their lawyers say the plan's mandatory arbitration system for malpractice claims is biased against patients and must be reformed on Thursday, June 4, 2026 in Los Angeles , CA. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
BUSINESS
Hampton said the net patient service revenue data from the annual report doesn’t capture UCLA’s “extensive contributions to caring for Medi-Cal patients” and isn’t “a fair basis for comparing academic health systems.”
He added that with the university’s expansion of clinics, “we are providing substantial specialty care to Medi-Cal and Medicare patients” throughout L.A. County.
“Unlike county-owned hospitals, UCLA Health relies almost exclusively on patient care revenue to fund operations, expand access, recruit clinicians and invest in facilities and technology,” he said.
Hampton said UCLA has other contracts to serve Medi-Cal patients, which will continue. The health system also provides more than $270 million in unreimbursed care for low-income patients each year, he said, as well as primary and urgent care for people experiencing homelessness.
In addition, UCLA is spending $500 million to create a new neuropsychiatric hospital in Los Angeles’ Mid-Wilshire neighborhood, he said.
“We continue to fortify our region’s safety net despite growing access demands and challenges,” Hampton said.
In the most recent fiscal year, he said, Medi-Cal patients comprised 26% of 336,600 inpatient days and 34% of 156,000 emergency department visits.
“UCLA Health’s long-standing commitment to serving vulnerable populations in Southern California is well-established,” he said.
Hampton said the net patient service revenue data doesn’t reflect the complexity of care delivered by UCLA and is affected by Medi-Cal reimbursement rates and payment policies, which vary by region and health plan.
“Over time, Medi-Cal reimbursement has not kept pace with the cost of providing care, and UCLA Health has experienced increasing payment denials and delays,” he said.
UCLA specialists had been caring for Health Care LA’s seriously ill patients under the contract since 2009.
“They were the provider that did all the complicated care,” Matovsky said. “UCLA was our go-to.”
Low-income patients at UCLA Health scramble to find new doctors as contract ends
www.latimes.com
Thousands of low-income patients, some desperately ill, are scrambling to find new doctors as they lose access to UCLA Health physicians after an eight-year Medi-Cal contract was not renewed.
Workers meet with Oakland’s Mayor Lee over UCSF Benioff Children’s hospital funding
home.nuhw.org/2026/07/06/workers-meet-with-oaklands-mayor-lee-over-hospital-funding/
July 6, 2026
One year after UCSF initiated a hospital integration plan that forced more than 1,300 NUHW members at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland into other unions, the workers haven’t given up hope of returning to NUHW or given up fighting for their patients and East Bay communities.
On Saturday, June 27, about a dozen workers, who used to be NUHW stewards at Children’s Hospital Oakland before UCSF “integrated” it with its children’s hospital in San Francisco’s Mission Bay District, had a sit-down meeting with Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee.
Lee listened as workers discussed how the integration has resulted in additional services being moved across the Bay to San Francisco, forcing Oakland families to travel farther for care. The reduction in services came as no surprise to workers who held a strike in June 2025 opposing the integration plan, which also effectively cancelled their NUHW contracts and forced them into other unions, whose contracts included higher healthcare costs and pension contributions.
A federal judge is considering NUHW’s objections to the “integration,” but Lee stated that she is committed to making sure that funds from the 2020 Measure C sales tax ballot measure are used in the best interest of Oakland kids and the people who serve them at Children’s Hospital.
NUHW members helped pass the Alameda County tax measure six years ago, which generates about $20 million a year for the hospital. However, the measure wasn’t clear about how the money should be distributed, which left NUHW members at Children’s Hospital teaming up with the local unions to have a say in how it’s spent.
“UCSF is not doing what was intended with Measure C dollars,” Griselda Chavez, an infant development specialist at the hospital, told Lee during the meeting. “They took money that came from the pockets of everyday people, money meant for helping children, and spent it on construction.”
Lee was receptive to Chavez and her coworkers, and pledged to talk to UCSF Health President Nicolas Holmes and county officials to make sure they follow through on a plan ensuring that 5 percent of the proceeds go towards programs that hospital workers identify as major problems, including lack of equipment and lack of staff, which leads to long waitlists for important pediatric services. The mayor is making good on her pledge and is convening a meeting with workers and Holmes on August 3.
“I was happy with the commitment we received from Mayor Lee,” Chavez said. “She listened, and I believe she will follow through, but I’m not optimistic that UCSF will honor any commitment. Over the past year of being under UCSF, I’ve seen them ignore rules and requirements that they don’t like.”
Workers meet with Oakland’s Mayor Lee over hospital funding – NUHW
home.nuhw.org
Workers at UCSF Children’s Hospital Oakland had a sit down meeting with Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, who committed to making sure that hospital caregivers have a say in how UCSF spends a portion of fu…
Nearly 10,000 UC doctors to unionize, advocate for better working conditions
www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article316630541.html
By Sofia Williams
Updated July 23, 2026 1:09 PM
Organizers with UC Doctors United will hold a press conference outside UC San Francisco’s medical center Thursday to announce their unionization efforts. Nearly 10,000 attending doctors are fighting for improved work conditions and patient protections through the new union. Steve Proehl Getty Images Key Takeaways AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom. Nearly 10,000 attending doctors in the University of California system have announced their effort to unionize at a Thursday news conference outside the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. The campaign, UC Doctors United, is a joint effort between doctors in the UC system and Service Employees International Union Doctors United, a union that currently comprises 45,000 doctors and 1.2 million healthcare workers nationwide. TOP VIDEOS The video player is currently playing an ad. UC Doctors United said in an announcement Monday it is organizing for improved working conditions, stronger patient care and safety, more comprehensive medical education and better protections for academic freedom and the peer review system. “Attending physicians across the country have been uniting together to take back their profession and the expert care patients need and deserve,” Doctors Council SEIU President Dr. Frances Quee said in a statement. “We’re overworked. We’re burnt out. We’re frustrated that decisions made about our work are based on the bottom line, not patient outcomes.” UC Health was not immediately able to provide comment. Erica Brode, a doctor of family medicine at UC San Francisco, said she has worked at UCSF’s Department of Family and Community Medicine for 19 years. For the majority of that time, Brode said she felt confident in UCSF’s values of “patient-centered care and evidence-based medicine.” Recently, she said, that has changed. “I really felt a distinct shift focused more on profits and expansion of UCSF over patient care and the people that work here,” Brode said. “That’s part of why I decided to join this (unionization) movement.” According to Brode, the hospital has shifted from value-based metrics to profit-based metrics as a means to evaluate primary care. Doctors are also asked to work more, Brode said, often arriving before clinical staff or working through lunch breaks to meet expectations. “I’ve seen quite a bit of turnover,” Brode said. “I think that’s why I feel like it’s critical to stand up at this moment. … The goal is to have a longitudinal, lifelong relationship with your patient panel, and if our providers are being overworked and deprioritized to the point that they leave, then that harms patients as well.” Brode said that she has thought about searching for another job, but considers the more than 700 patients she has treated at UCSF to be “family members.” Instead, she said, she decided to stay at UCSF and fight for UC Doctors United. UC Doctors United marks the largest unionization effort of attending doctors nationally. SEIU California endorsed the campaign alongside the California Nurses Association and United Auto Workers Local 4811, which represent UC nurses and early career researchers, respectively. The formation of UC Doctors United comes in the wake of UC resident physicians and fellows’ tentative contract agreement with UC Health. Represented by SEIU and the Council for Interns and Residents, the group negotiated a statewide deal that increases salaries by 18%, preserves fertility benefits, improves access to radiation exposure equipment, provides immigrant protections for patients and secures improvements to emergency room capacity. “We are very happy with what we were able to negotiate for our futures, including the wage increases, better access to properly fitting lead, and enshrining our fertility benefits in this contract,” said UCLA emergency medicine resident Diana Dayal in a statement. “However, we’re also really proud that we were able to win language for our patients, especially for the immigrant communities we serve so that they can receive care with less fear, and for all our patients who have had to contend with issues related to emergency room capacity.” The tentative agreement followed a year of negotiations during which UC residents and fellows participated in a series of demonstrations. These actions culminated in June with a series of 18 “unity breaks” at a number of UC health campuses. The UC resident physicians and fellows’ bargaining team will present the contract to the union’s full membership for a ratification vote in the coming weeks. If more than half the members vote in favor of the contract, it will then take effect. “Doctors deserve a voice at every stage of their career,” said CIR/SEIU President Trina Van in a statement. “From interns, residents, and fellows to attending doctors, University of California doctors are getting spread thin from the increasingly corporatized structure that overloads doctors and limits patient time. Interns and residents have made incredible gains by standing together at their workplace.”
Nearly 10,000 UC doctors to unionize, advocate for better working conditions
www.sacbee.com
UC Doctors United would represent nearly 10,000 attending doctors in the UC system and advocate for physician and patient well-being.
Time, Place & Manner: Scott Wiener, Gavin Newsom & The Attack On Democratic Rights In Education
youtu.be/6wuFS4FfeAI
SJSU Professor Dr. Sang Kil at a victory press conference returning her to her job at San Jose Sate University
reported that California Governor Gavin Newsom and Congressional candidate Scott Wiener were involved in
targeting Palestinian student, faculty and union supporters at CSU, UC and K-12 with rules such as Time, Place
and Manner as well as SB 715 which says criticism of Israel's genocide is anti-Semitism and coerces teachers
not to have any discussion of Palestine and the genocide.
The attack on democratic rights by Democratic Party politicians according to Professor Kil is helping to set up a
repressive state.
The leadership of UAW 4811 and UAW Region 6 are supporting the candidacy of Scott Wiener for Congress to
replace former House leader Nancy Pelosi.
This press conference was in front of the MLK Library at San Jose State University on June 30, 2026.
Additional Media:
UAW Members Demand that UAW Rescind Endorsement of Zionist & Billionaire Shill Scott Wiener
youtu.be/JPfO9KV31Vk
Zionist CA State Senator Scott Wiener Protested At KQED Congressional Debate
youtu.be/YkqNzPKNSpc
No Genocide By Israel In Gaza According to SF Demo Party Politician Scott Weiner
youtu.be/upXMZeEomzY
UCSF Dr. Rupa Marya Targeted By Zionist Scott Weiner & Fired For Opposing Genocide In Palestine
youtu.be/Yr1DDEphSQE
Weiner Supporters Go Crazy At Jane Kim Rally In SF-There Is No Working Class Housing Crisis In SF?
youtu.be/o_1xxLF35fw
Production of Labor Video Project
www.labormedia.net
$12B science bond to offset Trump research cuts misses California ballot deadline
University of California leaders, UAW 4811, UAW Region6 and scientists had supported the bill, which they called critical to securing the future of science in the state.
www.berkeleyside.org/2026/06/29/12b-science-bond-to-offset-trump-research-cuts-misses-california-…
By Felicia Mello
June 29, 2026, 2:19 p.m.
California Assembly Member Pilar Schiavo listens to Caltech Ph.D. student Isaac Aguilar explain his research on metals found in the ash following the Los Angeles fires during a science fair for threatened and cancelled research held in Sacramento on Jan. 26. Credit: Fred Greaves for Berkeleyside
A proposed $12 billion bond measure to fund scientific research missed a deadline last week to qualify for the November ballot, dimming the hopes of scholars and University of California leaders who had aimed to use the funds to backfill losses in federal grants.
Are you a UC researcher whose work has been affected by federal grant cancellations?
Send me an email to reporter Felicia Mello at felicia@berkeleyside.org, or message her on Signal at Felicia.97.
State Sen. Scott Wiener urged state legislative leaders on Friday to extend the deadline and place the measure on the ballot in a joint statement with two other authors of the bill and a union leader, saying the Trump administration’s slashing of federal science funding “calls for real urgency.” (Any deal would likely need to happen before July 2, when the Legislature is set to adjourn for the summer.)
The bond proposal came as the administration has canceled thousands of grants to scientists nationwide that it said didn’t align with its priorities and is proposing rules that would further politicize federal grantmaking. UC Berkeley alone has lost tens of millions in funding from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies.
“The University of California is facing the most significant disruption to our research enterprise in our history,” UC President James Milliken said at a May rally in support of the bond.
The bill would have given Californians the opportunity to vote in November on whether to set up a state fund to support research in curing deadly diseases, preventing wildfires, tackling climate change and other scientific quests. In addition to raising $12 billion through a bond measure, the state would also have collected private donations, and would have received a portion of the revenue from inventions developed with money from the fund.
State Sen. Scott Wiener, who has proposed the multi-billion-dollar scientific research fund, talks at the science fair in January. Credit: Fred Greaves for Berkeleyside
Originally designed to raise $23 billion, the proposal was scaled down during the legislative process and passed the state Senate with bipartisan support. But it failed to make it to the Assembly floor before Thursday’s deadline for measures to qualify for the November ballot.
Nick Miller, a spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, said legislative leaders — who typically come to an agreement with the governor before placing bonds on the ballot — faced painful choices as they tried to plan for Medicaid cuts and other federal policy changes that were likely to impact the state in the near future.
“Trump’s full-scale assault on California touches nearly every public service and program,” Miller wrote in an email. “California simply cannot backfill all these draconian cuts — and the economic chaos Trump has unleashed forces the state to prepare for even more uncertainty ahead, severely constraining bonding capacity.”
A spokesperson for the governor’s office did not respond to messages seeking comment.
As California’s leading public research university, UC Berkeley would have likely benefited significantly from the state fund, along with other UC campuses, private universities and labs.
“Scientific discoveries are absolutely critical to working families across California,” Mike Miller, president of United Auto Workers Region 6, a union that represents UC scientists, said in a joint statement Friday with Wiener and Assembly coauthor José Luis Solache. They urged the Assembly, Senate and Governor Gavin Newsom to place the bond on the ballot, saying it would “secure the future of science in California.”
Researchers say their jobs have become more unstable as Trump administration has pulled back on funding
The campaign for SB 895 marked a rare moment of collaboration between the leadership of the UC and unions representing the university’s scientists, both of which sponsored the bill. Early-career scientists in particular emerged from their labs to hold a mock science fair, gather signatures from the public, and otherwise try to convince legislators that their work is critical to the state’s future.
large-science-saves-lives_2026_01_26_FG23488.jpeg
Christopher Rae, a UC Berkeley postdoctoral researcher who is investigating potential new treatments for tuberculosis, at the January science fair. Credit: Fred Greaves for Berkeleyside
Lara Schwarz, a UC Berkeley postdoc who studies how heat waves and wildfire affect human health, said job opportunities in her field were far more scarce than they had been just two years ago, as the National Institutes of Health pulled back on funding.
“California is experiencing more and more heat waves and wildfire smoke events and that’s not going away anytime soon,” she said. “The fact that we won’t have the funding to research this and understand how to respond is going to lead to drastic consequences on the health of Californians.”
The science bond, she hoped, could prevent researchers like her from needing to go abroad to pursue their work — or leaving the field altogether.
Housing bond may have crowded science bond off the ballot
Science bond supporters also faced competition from another pressing California challenge: the state’s housing crisis. Last week, Newsom struck an agreement with legislative leaders to place an $11 billion bond measure on the ballot that would fund the building and preservation of affordable housing.
Because bonds are essentially large loans the state takes out, with taxpayers paying the interest, their supporters often worry that having more than one such big-ticket measure on the ballot can weaken voter buy-in. State leaders, too, fear taking on too much debt. Voters are also set to decide in November on a more narrowly focused $8 billion bond measure, backed by billionaire philanthropist Gary Michelson and some patient advocacy groups, that would fund research into immunotherapy for serious diseases.
While court rulings have restored many of the grants to UC researchers that the Trump administration had sought to cancel, deep uncertainty remains about the future of federal science funding. Rules proposed by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget last month would require political appointees to review all new grants to ensure they serve the president’s priorities.
And in April, the National Science Foundation suspended another $21 million in research grants to UC Berkeley, saying the university failed to report foreign funding received by the projects’ principal investigators, a charge some of those researchers denied.
$12B science bond to offset Trump research cuts misses California ballot deadline
www.berkeleyside.org
University of California leaders and scientists had supported the bill, which they called critical to securing the future of science in the state.
UAW 4811 Lining Up With Zionist Scott Wiener To Push Bond For Reasearch Funds Rather Than Taxing Billionaires.
State Tax Funds Will Also Go To Private Biotech Companies
Hundreds of UAW members rally to get $12 billion research bond on ballot
www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article316251545.html
Hundreds rally to get $12 billion research bond on ballot. Will it make it? By Tarini Mehta Updated June 25, 2026 6:43 PM Students, faculty and community m Hundreds of UAW members rally to get $12 billion research bond on ballot their support for SB 895, which would place a $12 billion research bond on the November ballot. Tarini Mehta tarini.mehta@sacbee.com Ruby Kharod researches solutions to climate change at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Erika Anderson is a postdoctoral scholar at UC San Francisco harnessing molecular biology to better understand the development of diseases. Lara Schwarz studies the effect of wildfires and heat waves on public health at UC Berkeley. Early Wednesday morning, they made their way to Sacramento alongside about 200 students, faculty and community members to appeal to legislators to place a $12 billion research bond on the November ballot. Against the federal government’s massive funding cuts to scientific research, the proposed bond seeks to stabilize science funding in California by providing research grants and loans for medical, environmental and agricultural research. “There’s a lot of uncertainty because a lot of our research is depending on federal funding,” Schwarz said. “It unfortunately makes me have to consider other alternatives than staying in academia in the U.S. (This bill) would change that by creating a funding source that ensures sustainability and the ability to continue doing this research in California.” Depending on interest rates, the total cost of the bond to California taxpayers will be somewhere between $21.5 billion and $23.4 billion, according to a legislative analysis of the bill. A bond is a type of long-term borrowing that the state uses to raise money for various purposes. The state obtains the money by selling bonds to investors and agrees to repay it, with interest, per a specified schedule. But the bond will only make it onto voters’ ballots in November if Senate Bill 895, authored by Sens. Scott Wiener, Aisha Wahab and Sasha Pérez, moves out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee and wins approval on the floor of the Assembly and from Gov. Gavin Newsom. And time is running out. The last day for measures to qualify to appear on the ballot is Thursday, June 25, according to the California Secretary of State. Now, supporters of the bond are hoping lawmakers will use their power to push the deadline. At the committee hearing Wednesday, the room overflowed with supporters who queued up in the room and outside in the corridor to make public comment and emphasize the importance of the bill. Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland — who chairs the committee — noted that the “normal protocol” required a three-party negotiated deal between Gov. Gavin Newsom, Senate President pro Tempore Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, before the bill can move forward. For now, it remains on the committee’s “suspense” calendar. “It’s critically important that we reach a three-party deal to put this science bond on the ballot,” said Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, in a statement. “Right now our state is hemorrhaging scientific talent because of the horrifying cuts made by the Trump administration, which endanger life-saving treatments for millions of families and California’s leadership on the world stage. Science can deliver miracles for Californians, but it needs stability and support.” While the deadline to get the measure on the ballot is June 25, the legislature has the ability to waive the deadline for legislative measures, the California Secretary of State said. There have been instances in past years when lawmakers have done so. In 2020, for example, Sen. Tom Umberg, D-Villa Park, authored a bill that called for a special election on five constitutional amendments to be consolidated with the general election in November — even though the ballot measure deadline had passed. The bill, which received the governor’s approval, asked the Secretary of State to bypass the Elections Code provision that requires a minimum of 131 days between the passage of a measure by the Legislature and the election it will be a part of. The window, though, is a tight one, given the Secretary of State’s other upcoming deadlines for the Nov. 3 election. Still, supporters of the science bond are holding out hope. “There is still flexibility to get this done,” said Ximena Anleu Gil, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Davis and vice president of UAW 4811 which represents 60,000 academic workers at the University of California. “Given how important standing up for science is for people’s lives and our economy, we are confident that it can be done.” In an email sent to union members Thursday morning, UAW 4811 leadership said the governor’s office was “interested” in the bond and Senate leadership “fully on board,” leaving only Assembly leadership yet to be convinced. The email urged members to reach out to Assembly Speaker Rivas to win his support. In a statement, the University of California — which sponsored the bill — urged the Legislature to put it on the ballot to “help save scientific research across California.” “Over the past 18 months, UC has faced an onslaught of lawsuits, investigations and threats from the federal government, including attempts to cut and freeze hundreds of millions of dollars in medical and scientific research funding,” a university spokesperson said. “SB 895 would not replace threatened federal funds, but it would provide vital supplemental long-term funding for research that drives lifesaving medical advancements, finds solutions to the world’s most pressing problems, and helps keep the nation at the forefront of scientific discovery.” The bill has 48 co-authors and strong organizational support, including from Stanford University and the California State University. It passed on the Senate floor with 29 votes in support and nine against in May. While the fate of the science bond remains uncertain, a separate initiative championed by doctors, nurses and patient advocates has qualified for the November ballot after receiving the 601,317 certified signatures it needed. If approved by voters, this measure will authorize $8.4 billion in state bonds for California-based public and nonprofit universities and medical research institutions to conduct research to prevent and cure diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s and heart disease.
Hundreds rally to get $12 billion research bond on ballot. Will it make it?
www.sacbee.com
The clock is ticking: June 25 is the deadline for measures to qualify for the November election.
Educators for Palestine, Vetoed: The cases of the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Historical Association (AHA)
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UjsAX2QGQ5S2ftHza2SgRQ#/registration
Date & Time
Jun 6, 2026 11:00 AM in
Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Description
A joint panel by Educators for Palestine-NEA (E4P-NEA) and Historians for Peace and Democracy (H-PAD). Endorsed by: Labor for Palestine National Network.
When: Saturday June 6 at 11am pst/12pm mountain/1pm central/2pm est
Zoom: webinar (with registration)
In January 2025 and 2026, while Israel committed genocide against Palestinians, the American Historical Association voted overwhelmingly to pass the Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza. However, the AHA Council vetoed the resolution and overturned the decision of the membership.
In July 2025, the Representative Assembly of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest labor union, passed a resolution that “NEA will not use, endorse, or publicize any materials from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).” However, the NEA's Board of Directors voted not to implement this proposal.
This panel will address the following:
• What responsibility do academic workers have in regards to the ongoing genocide in Palestine and other concurrent or future wars?
• What material and ideological support can we give to peoples’ movements resisting genocide and war?
• What happens when our ostensibly democratic organizations overturn our democratic decisions?
• What are the next steps for educators organizing for Palestine solidarity
us06web.zoom.us
A joint panel by Educators for Palestine-NEA (E4P-NEA) and Historians for Peace and Democracy (H-PAD). Endorsed by: Labor for Palestine National Network. When: Saturday June 6 at 11am pst/12pm mountai…
They just formed the biggest tech worker union in the US. Now they'll take on AI and industry layoffs
www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/they-just-formed-the-biggest-tech?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=emsp…
"Who AI benefits and who it immiserates often is based on who gets to decide how it’s used. We know how tech is used on the day to day. We should be at the table as well."
BRIAN MERCHANT
MAY 22
As AI sweeps through the American education system and US tech workers stare down the specter of mass layoffs, thousands of IT employees across the statewide University of California system have voted to unionize. They join over 6,000 tech workers already represented by University and Professional Technical Employees (UPTE), expanding the total to 8,400 workers across the bargaining unit. That makes the new unit the largest tech worker union in the nation.
UPTE calls it “a major victory for workers’ rights in the technology sector,” and that feels apt. Historically, the tech industry has been under-organized; for decades, tech firms have sought to pre-empt or ward off unionization by offering cushy perks and leaning into the entrepreneurial, laissez-faire ethos of Silicon Valley. But times are changing, and organized labor has made inroads. Hundreds of Google employees and contractors voted to form the Alphabet Worker’s Union in 2021—it doesn’t have full bargaining power but has proved influential nonetheless—and workers at tech companies like Kickstarter and at the New York Times’ tech desk (which was previously the nation’s largest tech worker union) have successfully organized in recent years. More recently, workers at Google’s DeepMind headquarters in London have voted to unionize.
The UC tech workers’ victory could thus not come at a better time, both for the thousands of employees themselves, and for a public that could use some working examples of how AI might be democratically implemented and governed. There’s been plenty of handwringing, after all, over how we might navigate the rise of AI in the workplace, orchestrating good technical governance of the systems, and the threat of ever more layoffs blamed on AI, but here we have a rather straightforward and obvious part of the solution: Give workers a seat at the table in formulating how to use (or not to use) the technology, and a democratic means of determining how task and labor replacement might be administrated.
“Honestly I’m elated,” Max Belasco, a business systems analyst at UCLA, tells me. “I think it’s very easy to feel siloed or removed from your coworkers in IT/tech,” he continues. “But that so many of us clearly feel the same way has felt so empowering and vindicating.”
UPTE tech workers, newly organized. Image: UPTE.
The campaign to expand the UPTE union picked up steam over the last year, focusing on layoff protections, wage increases, and AI governance as key issues. (For non-Californians, the reason the union is so big and potentially influential is because the UC system itself is enormous: It comprises ten campuses, including UC Berkeley, UCLA, and Santa Cruz, as well as multiple research centers and major healthcare providers. It’s a massive institution. To wit: I’m an alum of UC Santa Barbara and UCLA is my healthcare provider. My son was born at a UCLA hospital.)
With the victory, thousands of tech workers join an existing UPTE contract that grants them raises and improved benefits, as well as layoff protections that compel the University of California to offer employees who would otherwise be laid off the first vacant position that they’re qualified for. “That type of job security is unheard of in the current tech market,” Belasco says.
“Some of us worked in industry before coming to the UC, and now we’re in this environment right now where tech companies are laying off people by the tens of thousands, and that precarity has lent a level of urgency to the whole campaign,” Belasco says. “The narrative in tech now is all about the unilateral power executives wield over our workplace circumstances, and I think many of us felt in the UC that creeping sense of being left out of decision making in how to implement technology for the public good.”
To that end, the contract includes the right to collectively bargain over the introduction of new AI tools in the workplace, offering workers a direct say in how they will be used.
“We know when you try to make quick, dirty decisions to cut labor through AI, you’re actually creating a more vulnerable system,” Dan Russell, a UC Berkeley business technology support analyst and the president of UPTE, said in statement. “On paper, AI can make us more ‘productive’ at our jobs, but the people making those recommendations to UC are management consultants who don’t have the knowledge or expertise we have as workers.” Russell also notes that he hopes the contract will “set the tone” not just for UC workers but everyone who relies on the system for education and healthcare.¹
Veteran tech worker organizers say they’re encouraged by the news, especially given how bleak conditions have been on the ground in Silicon Valley recently.
“This is a really important development,” says JS Tan, a tech worker organizer and the author of the forthcoming book, Against Tech Oligarchy: Worker Resistance in the World’s Most Powerful Industry. “It is happening at a time when tech employers are increasingly hostile to organizing and using AI as cover for mass layoffs—conditions that have, for most of the industry, chilled organizing efforts.”
To that end, Belasco hopes that the worker-led tech governance they aim to engage in can begin to forge a different vision for approaching AI development and integration than the top-down, profit-led model embraced by Silicon Valley. He had some trenchant thoughts here, so I’ll quote him at length:
The current tech sector is how it is because the unilateral power of the Silicon Valley CEO is the only model. There is no alternative. We want to demonstrate another alternative where workers have a voice in their compensation and how our expertise can be applied for the public good. Innovation and creative solutions to tech questions in education, healthcare, and research can be brought to bear from workers that have the space and protection to be creative. Innovation doesn’t have to come from competition setting coworkers against each other…
And not for nothing I would personally like to see us demand more transparency in how our public institutions relate to tech companies… how is data being shared with companies, and what kind? How does making these agreements to use AI that relies on resource heavy data centers relate to the UC’s often touted energy efficiency plans? But that also relates to what is the long term vision of administration for AI, which I think undoubtedly gets to questions of layoffs, staffing, and work/life balance
At the end of the day, who AI benefits and who it immiserates often is based on who gets to decide how it’s used. We know how tech is used on the day to day, and we’re familiar with the abilities and clear limitations of LLMs and other AI tools, often more so than those who make major decisions on how they are used. We should be at the table as well, and we feel the way we get real decision making power at this point is collectively through unionization.
[Emphasis mine.]
To me, this is beautiful.
A few things I want to note here, all of which I think serve as important reminders as AI matures as a product category and key pillar of the tech industry:
The vast majority of tech workers, at least those who I have encountered in my many years of reporting, are not vampiric Silicon Valley tech bro caricatures, they are folks like Belasco, Russell, and Tan, who both like working with tech and ultimately want to see it serve the public good.
The caricatures that are more accurate are, alas, those of the occupants in the c-suites of AI companies, those in positions of power, and helming the most aggressive AI startups. They are the ones who must be confronted if we’re ever going to see anything resembling democratic governance of AI.
They can nonetheless be overcome.
“This drive should remind tech workers across the country that building power is still possible,” says Tan, the tech worker organizer and author, “and in fact evermore crucial as employers are forcing AI tools into the workplace with little input from its workers.”
It’s frankly inspiring to see the freshly victorious tech workers at UPTE aspiring not only to improve their own working conditions and to mediate the labor automation of AI, but to proactively engage the key role they play as technicians in determining how the systems they oversee and maintain impact the experience of the broader public. More organizing, more aggressive worker campaigns, and more proactive union contracts around AI may be our best hope for stopping management from using AI as an excuse to exploit and automate their workforces. It’s also a crucial step—necessary, not sufficient—towards legitimately democratic governance of AI in general. This is the way.
Next up, getting organized tech workers at the UC system and beyond working with rank and file tech workers in the Valley and beyond.
Elsewhere in the ‘unions are crucial to good AI governance Dept,’ Politico is disbanding two AI programs that management had deployed on the website without informing the staff. Those deployments violated language in the staff’s union contract about AI use—management is required to inform staff of the decision to use such tools in advance, and give them an opportunity to assess and bargain over it.
As BLOOD readers may recall, Politico did neither, and just went and launched the buggy AI tools during a couple of the highest-profile political events of the year in 2024. The AI tool proceeded to make mistakes, misspell names, and use language forbidden to human reporters in the style book. The PEN Guild, which represents Politico and E&E News, filed a grievance, and the journalists have been duking it out with management ever since. An arbitrator sided with the Guild over management last year, and now Politico is officially canning the faulty AI products. It took time, and sweat and tears, but in the end, the news site and its staff will all be better off, and the use cases for AI tools more clearly defined. Another why worker power and strong unions are crucial for AI governance.
As Ariel Wittenberg, the PEN Guild chair, said in a statement: “This is an extraordinary win not just for our members, but for everyone who believes journalism must remain in human hands. We refused to back down, and POLITICO heard us loud and clear that these tools do not belong in our newsroom.”
You can catch up on the whole saga with these two stories here:
(SIDE NOTE: I’m not sure I’ve mentioned it in these pages before, but eons ago, I helped organize a union drive at a tech company, too. I was working at Medium, and in our case, engineers and programmers joined with the site’s staff writers and editors to try to form a companywide union. It would have been pretty novel for the industry. A key goal for the engineers was winning more worker power over the site’s tools and general direction. The effort came up short after Medium brought in a union-busting law firm and the CEO, Twitter co-founder Ev Williams, undertook a personal campaign to dissuade employees from voting in favor. The drive failed by one vote. Good times.)
Blood in the media:
This week, I joined Madeline Brand on Press Play to talk about the data center opposition movement, and Monterey Park’s move to ban data centers from its city limits.
We covered some similar ground on Adam Conover’s new Factually spinoff talk show, as well as getting into Boomer wealth hoarding and the California governor’s race:
The booing continues
Last week, I dedicated much of the newsletter to unpacking why hundreds of college grads would aggressively boo their commencement speaker for describing AI as “the next industrial revolution” and why a clip of the event went so viral afterwards.
Since then, let’s just say that the hits have kept on coming: Days after the first viral heckling, grads at the University of Arizona relentlessly booed former Google CEO Eric Schmidt as he declared AI the future. Elsewhere, grads booed music industry exec Scott Borchetta as he insisted AI was transforming audio production. And last but not least, grads booed a community college administrator who announced that they had used an AI system to read graduating students’ names—and apologized that said system had omitted hundreds of them, depriving them of the chance to walk the stage to receive their diploma.
eIbrxvSEEWI.jpeg
Three makes a trend, and we’re well beyond that now; mainstream media is running with the story of college kids shouting down AI. If anything, I think the proliferation of these events only underscores each of the points I made last week.
Some bloody updates:
Not one but TWO great initiatives launched this week, DAIR’s Luddite Laband the AI Resist List, a project guided by Empire of AI author Karen Hao. Both are excellent projects and resources, and should be on any good luddite’s list to follow.
Closer to home, you may have noticed that I’ve been writing only one newsletter edition a week lately. That edition is approximately 90,000 words long, but still. This is largely because there are some big plans and changes underway at Blood in the Machine Inc, and I will be able to announce them in greater detail soon. But let’s just say for now I’m very enthused.
EVEN closer to home, I cannot help but share some proud dad stuff here. My 10 year-old loves science. He does experiments in the backyard with his friends, often involving baking soda and vinegar and decent-sized messes. He’s a big Mark Rober fan. I’ve woken up on Saturday morning to find he’s using his TV time to watch NASA documentaries. He also thinks a good deal about climate change and environmental issues, and this year he decided to do his science fair project on insect larvae that can break down plastics. As a result, we’ve had wax worms, giant mealworms, and soldier fly larvae living in our house the past few weeks, eating away at styrofoam and plastic sponges. Did you know a super worm can survive entirely on a diet of plastic? Or that wax worms eat beeswax, which has a similar molecular structure to plastic, and so they can break the stuff down? I did not. He won the sustainability award for his project at his elementary school, and the image of him running down the auditorium aisle to retrieve it from the principal will be one I likely never forget. He worked hard; recording observations, writing up results, even making a slide presentation you can access via a QR code. Anyway, he subscribes to the newsletter (I swear I did not make him do this) and even tells me he reads it “sometimes.” If you’re reading this one, I’m so proud of you buddy.
UC Berkeley Law creates new AI policy that bans AI for "conceptualizing, outlining, drafting, revising, translating, or editing any work submitted for credit" or exams because "thinking remains the sine qua non of good lawyering (and of a quality legal education)." That's what I'm talking about.
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Thu, 21 May 2026 16:21:02 GMT
View on Bluesky
Okay! That’s it for today. I’ll be back next week, hopefully sooner rather than later, with some thoughts on Google’s sure-to-be disastrous hard(er) pivot into AI-ifying Search. Until then, hammers up.
To that end, Belasco says that “I think another important thing to note is that UPTE also represents a large number of healthcare workers at the UC. AI is also trying to insert itself into that field. And I’m excited to be working with union family that are medical interpreters and other healthcare professionals to see how we can mount a united front in defending patient care.”
They just formed the biggest tech worker union in the US. Now they take on AI and industry layoffs
www.bloodinthemachine.com
“Who AI benefits and who it immiserates often is based on who gets to decide how it’s used. We know how tech is used on the day to day. We should be at the table as well.”
Some AFSCME Local 3299 members react angrily to tentative deal as ratification vote begins
dailybruin.com/2026/05/19/afscme-local-3299-members-react-to-tentative-deal-as-ratification-vote-…
AFSCME Local 3299 members react to tentative deal as ratification vote begins
Feature image
Members of the American Federation of State, City and Municipal Employees Local 3299 demonstrate outside of the Meyer and Renee Luskin Center. The union reached a contract with the UC just hours before it was set to go on an open-ended strike Thursday and is holding a ratification vote May 19 to 21. (Andrew Ramiro Diaz/Photo editor)
Josephine MurphyBy Josephine Murphy
May 19, 2026 10:56 p.m.
More than two years into bargaining and just hours before an indefinite strike was set to begin, the UC reached a contract with a union representing more than 40,000 employees.
Its members – who have been in negotiations with the University since January 2024 – will decide whether or not to ratify it Tuesday to
Contracts for the American Federation of State, City and Municipal Employees Local 3299, which represents skilled craft, service and patient care workers, expired in July 2024 and October 2024. The union has struck five times since November 2024, alleging the UC bargained in bad faith and committed unfair labor practice violations.
The tentative contract – which members will vote on Tuesday to Thursday – includes annual wage increases amounting to 19% and an additional 8% in step increases over the life of the contract. Union members will also be able to negotiate shift differentials – or pay for less desirable shifts or additional work – and on-call pay, under the new contract.
The agreement also includes protections for seniority rights. It would require that development days do not overlap with personal days and prevent the UC from requiring employees to work at several campuses or medical centers, such as UCLA and UC San Diego.
However, the contract does not include any stipulations about housing, which had been a major bargaining item for AFSCME Local 3299 throughout negotiations.
A ballot measure that would support housing efforts for UC employees has received enough signatures to appear on the November ballot, said Monica Martinez, the union’s patient care vice president. The initiative, also known as the California State University Staff First-Time Homebuyer Down Payment Loan Program Initiative, would require the UC to establish a down-payment loan system for first-time homebuyers who have worked at the University for at least five years – with a cap of 300 loans.
“The university could have just come to the bargaining table and offer housing – the affordable housing we’re asking for,” Martinez said. “We filed our measure, it’s going to be on the ballot and we’re going to have California voters make that decision.”
She added that she is excited about better healthcare benefits and higher wages, and she expects union members to vote to ratify the contract.
AFSCME Local 3299 reached the contract after constant bargaining in the week before the strike was set to begin, the union said in a Thursday press release.
“Tomorrow, 42,000 UC Service and Patient Care Technical workers will not be on strike,” said Michael Avant, the union’s president, in the press release. “They will be back at work, doing what they love—serving UC patients and students. And we will be urging our members to vote YES on ratifying this new agreement.”
The UC Office of the President said in a Thursday statement that it is glad to have reached a contract with the union, adding that it addresses affordability issues.
Omar Laguna, a medical assistant for UCLA Health Pasadena Pediatrics, said in a texted statement that they are planning to vote against ratification. Many union members felt blindsided and discouraged by the last-minute agreement, they added in the text.
“The issue isn’t that workers weren’t willing to fight — many of us WERE ready to strike because we felt the contract proposals weren’t moving enough to address the real issues frontline employees deal with every day,” Laguna said in the text. “Many workers had already mentally, financially, and emotionally prepared themselves to strike because they believed that was the only way real pressure would be applied to move negotiations forward.”
Laguna said in the text that they believe the agreement’s conditions do not sufficiently address wage, staffing, workload or cost of living concerns, adding that they feel the union’s leaders became disconnected from its members.
The union disabled comments on its Instagram posts announcing the new contract as of Tuesday afternoon. Laguna said the move came after they – and other members of the union – had criticized the new contract in the comments of posts made by the union.
An AFSCME Local 3299 spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the union’s leaders consistently communicate with its members about workplace concerns and contracts.
The union monitors content on its social media accounts to ensure that people do not spread incorrect information, the spokesperson added in the statement.
“Others who are not members of the union can (and often do) exploit social media to build followers, advance personal agendas, peddle misinformation, or interfere in our union’s Democratic process,” the spokesperson said in the statement.
“Many members are not anti-union — we believe in unions and worker solidarity. That’s exactly why people are speaking up,” they said in the text. “Workers want a union that is transparent, listens to members, keeps workers informed throughout negotiations, and fights aggressively for contracts that truly improve workers’ lives instead of presenting last-minute agreements that leave many employees disappointed.”
Martinez said the union’s goal was to secure the best conditions for members while balancing the UC’s interests throughout bargaining.
“It is a negotiation, and it’s a give and take,” she said. “The University needed to make sure that they felt they made some kind of gain or that they were able to hold the line on something.”
AFSCME Local 3299 members react to tentative deal as ratification vote begins – Daily Bruin
dailybruin.com
More than two years into bargaining and just hours before an indefinite strike was set to begin, the UC reached a contract with a union representing more than 40,000 employees.