Students in the University of California system are reportedly supportive of the deal with academic workers that put an end to a 32-day strike.
“I’m a third year now, so I’m taking harder classes, and that’s when I need another help aside from the professor, and that’s when I realized the T.A.s are really important here,” Dev Singh, a UC Davis student told CBS News Sacramento. “Our projects and papers weren’t being graded until the very end. One of my classes, I got my first project grade after my finals ended.”
The UC system reached an agreement Friday evening with over 36,000 graduate student teaching assistants and other academic workers, ending disruptions at all 10 campuses after academic workers fought for pay increases and a boost in benefits.
“In addition to incredible wage increases, the tentative agreements also include expanded benefits for parent workers, greater rights for international workers, protections against bullying and harassment, improvements to accessibility, workplace protections, and sustainable transit benefits,” Tarini Hardikar, a member of the union bargaining team at UC Berkeley, said in a news release Friday.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SYSTEM, ACADEMIC WORKERS REACH DEAL TO END 32-DAY STRIKE
Bargaining units said some workers could see raises of up to 66% over the next two years, the Associated Press reported. The contracts would go through May 31, 2025.
One of the main complaints from the academic workers was that they couldn’t afford to live in cities such as Los Angeles, San Diego and Berkeley, with the current salaries.
There was widespread support for the striking workers on campuses.
“They’re even working [harder] than others in [private sector] industry, so I think they deserve a higher salary,” Mohammad Reza Narimani, a grad student at UC Davis, told CBS News.
“I think now we know our assignments are getting graded, and T.A.s can reply to emails again,” student Yume Shek told the media outlet. “That’s great.”
Fox News’ Elizabeth Pritchett and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
