if you haven’t already heard, graduate student TAs & researchers, postdocs, and other academic workers from the entire University of California system (Berkeley, UCLA, and 8 others, along with the Lawrence Berkeley national lab) are going on strike starting on Monday. for quick reference on what the unions are fighting for, TAs currently make between 15k-33k a year depending on department (chemistry TAs at my campus make 33k, and they’re probably some of the best paid), as do GSRs. i know factually that there are people in my department who struggle to pay rent, despite the fact that all of us, by definition, have an undergraduate degree or higher already. most of us are not making enough to survive in the high cost-of-living area that is California, and we are not all lucky enough to have family financial support.
(the UC system has also failed to bargain lawfully, to the extent that the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) has filed several complaints on behalf of the unions, but honestly, the thing I’m more concerned about is getting paid fairly)
if you don’t have the finances, but do have the ability to join the picket line or voice your support via this letter to the UC president, that would be extremely helpful as well
