University of California strike ends as employees secure significant pay rises and new contracts
Victory for striking student employees after 40-day walkout that disrupted teaching and research could have repercussions across academia
An unprecedented 40-day strike by tens of thousands of academics at the University of California (UC) system and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory over alleged inadequate pay, working conditions and benefits was resolved just two days before Christmas. The new contracts for academic researchers and postdoctoral researchers run to 30 September 2027, and those of academic student employees (ASEs) and graduate student researchers (GSRs) will be in place through to 31 May 2025.
The walkout was the largest academic strike in US history. It froze research and many teaching activities across UC’s 10 campuses and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which together account for more than 8% of total US higher education research expenditure. These institutions are home to about 10% of the country’s postdocs.