Thousands of UC San Diego workers in health care and beyond plan to strike for better wages and benefits Wednesday, participating in overlapping statewide pickets at University of California campuses statewide.
It is just the outcome threatened by members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, whose members held a demonstration in August on the final day of their contract. Last summer, workers said that a work stoppage would occur if initial contract proposals, which were said to include a 5% wage increase and a $25 minimum hourly wage across the board, were not improved.
AFSCME represents about 33,000 university workers statewide in jobs ranging from medical technicians and therapists to custodians and food service workers. The university said in August that 7,131 workers are at UCSD with 2,757 in jobs on campus and 4,374 working for UC San Diego Health.
The AFSCME strike is scheduled to start Wednesday and run through Thursday. A simultaneous strike by University Professional and Technical Employees Local 9119 will start the same day, but run through Friday.
UPTE represents about 4,000 workers at UCSD, about 20% of the union’s 20,000 members across all UC campuses. This workforce includes physician assistants, optometrists, pharmacists, case managers, rehabilitation specialists, mental health clinicians and clinical lab scientists.
These workers largely report to several locations within the larger UCSD system, including Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the university’s three hospitals and Moores Cancer Center.
UPTE accuses the university of creating a “staffing crisis and hindering patient care,” by not reaching a new contract agreement after eight months of bargaining.
In a strike statement published online late last week, the University of California Office of the President said that it has offered wage and benefit gains to both groups of workers, but has received little response.
“UPTE, who began strike preparations the same month contract negotiations began, failed to attend the most recent bargaining session and declared an impasse before responding to our offers,” UC’s statement said. “AFSCME has not responded to the University’s proposals or counterproposals since May 2024.”
But UPTE accuses UC of “speech-restrictive policies that make it harder for workers to blow the whistle on the ongoing staffing crisis and its unilateral and unlawful decision to impose healthcare cost increases on members — further exacerbating inadequate staffing.”
It was not immediately clear Monday how patients and students will be impacted their day-to-day activities during the strike.
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