A statewide strike that threatened to cancel classes across all University of California campuses was called off early Wednesday after a tentative agreement was reached with the union representing lecturers.
The University Council-American Federation of Teachers, which represents thousands of UC lecturers, announced it reached a new five-year agreement with “transformative and groundbreaking improvements in crucial areas, including job stability, workload, and compensation.”
The new contract gives teaching faculty four weeks of fully paid leave, pay increases, more job security, a $1,500 signing bonus, more transparent workload requirements, among other changes, according to the union’s website.
Union members had earlier voted to authorize a strike and served notice to UC management that lecturers will strike on Wednesday and Thursday to protest what they described as unfair labor practices committed by the university system.
The decision to strike came after UC management refused to bargain over a program of paid leave for family care and did not participate in state-sponsored mediation in good faith, the union said in a press release.
At the time, UC officials told the Los Angeles Times that the union’s unfair labor claims were unfounded and said that withholding instruction was unfair to students.
With the massive strike now averted, classes are back on track at UC campuses Wednesday.
After the marathon negotiating session that lasted all night, the union said lecturers will be gathering at campuses statewide for celebratory rallies at the locations previously planned for picketing.