UAW Local 4811 (UAW 4811) is the

local union A local union (often shortened to local), in North America, or union branch (known as a lodge in some unions), in the United Kingdom and other countries, is a local branch (or chapter) of a usually national trade union. The terms used for sub-bran ...

United Auto Workers The United Auto Workers (UAW), fully named International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico) and sou ...

representing academic student employees, graduate student researchers, postdoctoral scholars, and academic researchers at 10 campuses of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

system and the

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, with the exception of the

University of California College of the Law, San Francisco The University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (abbreviated as UC Law SF or UC Law) is a public law school in San Francisco, California, United States. It was known as the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (a ...

History

Formation

In the early 1980s, graduate student workers at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

began to organize a labor union known as Association of Graduate Student Employees (AGSE). In 1984, AGSE ally California state assemblymember

Tom Bates Thomas H. Bates (born February 9, 1938) was the 21st mayor of Berkeley, California, and a member of the California State Assembly. Bates is married to Loni Hancock, another former mayor of Berkeley and State Assembly member who served in the ...

introduced Assembly Bill 3251 into that year's session, which would have extended

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and labour rights, rights for ...

rights to graduate student employees, who were classified as

apprentices Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

rather than workers. At the same time, 1,300 AGSE members struck to pressure the university to recognize their union. This bill failed in May of that year, but this event officially inaugurated the precursor to the current graduate student union at the UC. In 1987, AGSE affiliated with the UAW, however Teaching Assistants would not be recognized as employees by the state of California until 1999, following a series of high participation strikes the year prior. UAW 2865 was officially formed in 2000, representing 8,000 Teaching Assistants, when members ratified its first contract which codified a wage of $13,500/yr, on average. This contract excluded Graduate Student Researchers, who remained categorized as apprentices until 2017.

2022 strike

After several years of coordination, in 2022 UAW Local 2865,

UAW Local 5810 UAW Local 5810 was the labor union representing postdoctoral researchers and academic researchers at the University of California. It is an affiliate of the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of ...

, and the graduate student researcher organizing campaign, SRU-UAW, struck together for six weeks beginning on November 14. The 5810 represented postdoctoral scholar and academic researcher units reached tentative agreements with the university on November 29, which were ratified by membership vote on December 9. The student worker units reached tentative agreements on December 16, which were ratified by membership vote on December 23—ending the strike. This strike was the largest higher education strike in United States history.

SRU-UAW merger

After the ratification of the contracts won in 2022, the joint councils of UAW 2865 and SRU-UAW voted to merge the new graduate student researcher bargaining units into the existing UAW 2865 academic student employee units—forming one union of 36,000 academic student workers.

2865–5810 Amalgamation

Following the SRU merger and coordination between both unions in their 2022 strike, from October 10–20, 2023 UAW locals 5810 and 2865 put an amalgamation referendum to members, weighing whether to combine the two unions. Over 11,000 workers participated in the vote, with 92% in favor of amalgamation. The UAW International Executive Board approved the amalgamation in late February 2024, officially combining the two unions into one comprising 48,000 workers and numerated Local 4811.

2024 Unfair Labor Practice strike

Soon after amalgamation, UAW Local 4811 was called upon to respond and support action by UC student protestors, including students leading the

Students for Justice in Palestine Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP; ) is a pro-Palestinian college student activism organization in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. Founded at the University of California, Berkeley in 1993, it has campaigned for the Boycott, Div ...

protests and encampments at UC campuses. After the violent attack by non-campus individuals on pro-Palestine student protestors at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and the subsequent police crackdown on May 1 and 2, 2024, UAW Local 4811 issued a statement announcing that it would hold a strike authorization vote in the following week. The union, in its statement, also called for UCLA Chancellor Gene Block to resign immediately given what they called his "failure of leadership." The 2024 strike took place over the course of three weeks starting on May 20, 2024, each of which saw new campuses join—following the "stand up" strategy of the

2023 United Auto Workers strike The 2023 United Auto Workers strike was a labor strike involving automobile workers in the labor union United Auto Workers (UAW) and the three unionized automakers in the United States—Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Stellantis. These ...

. The strike ended on June 7, 2024 after the university circumvented the California Public Relations Board by

forum shopping Forum shopping is a Colloquialism, colloquial term for the practice of litigants taking actions to have their legal case heard in the court they believe is most likely to provide a favorable judgment. Some jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions hav ...

for a

temporary restraining order An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable reme ...

against the strike in Orange County Superior Court.