{"id":47193,"date":"2026-03-14T12:29:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T19:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=47193"},"modified":"2026-03-14T12:29:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T19:29:54","slug":"gsi-union-pickets-in-last-chance-rally-ahead-of-sunday-strike-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/03\/14\/gsi-union-pickets-in-last-chance-rally-ahead-of-sunday-strike-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"GSI union pickets in \u2018last chance\u2019 rally ahead of Sunday strike decision"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailycal.org\/users\/profile\/John%20Schultz\">John Schultz | Staff<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mar 13, 2026 (DailyCal.org)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/dailycal.org\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/0\/c3\/0c35f39d-e13f-4444-b694-f279775b7f2e\/69b39fd0bddee.image.jpg?resize=400%2C258\" alt=\"picket_Anjalie Butte_staff.jpg\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">UAW members protest at the steps below the Campanile.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailycal.org\/users\/profile\/Anjalie%20Butte\">Anjalie Butte | Staff<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Hundreds of members of United Auto Workers Local 4811, a union representing 48,000 student employees, postdocs and academic researchers across the UC system, held a protest at the steps below the Campanile on March 12 over alleged unfair labor practices by the university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to union sources, union leaders will decide by March 15 whether they will initiate a strike, which could begin as soon as next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Richard Villagomez, a head steward and undergraduate tutor for Data 8, said the protest was the union\u2019s \u201clast chance\u201d to show the UC system that they are leveraging a \u201cvery real\u201d strike threat if no fair contract is reached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cUC still hasn\u2019t agreed to things like fair wages and strong international worker protections, and they\u2019ve been bargaining in bad faith, breaking the law, doing things like cutting appointments in half unilaterally, capping TA appointments, and imposing new fees,\u201d Villagomez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of the hundreds of protesters in attendance were, or had been, graduate student instructors, or GSIs. Noelle Blose, a graduate student researcher and former GSI in the physics department, said she was driven to attend the protest after witnessing alleged harsh cuts to the department\u2019s GSI staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe physics department cut our GSI staff to one-half the usual numbers,\u201d Blose said, \u201cThe workload for the intro courses is always the highest for any of the GSIs in the physics department, and these cuts functionally meant that we could barely run the classes. The discussion and lab sections were so overcrowded. We couldn&#8217;t answer questions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter \u2014 who is currently a candidate for California governor \u2014 also attended the protest. Porter marched in the picket line and met with union leaders about an hour after the protest began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI am here to support labor unions,\u201d Porter said. \u201cI\u2019m here to support the people who make the UCs great, the people who are in the trenches every day teaching and running this university. They are workers and they need to be able to afford to live and to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Porter, who is a UCI law professor, also said she taught at UC Berkeley as a visiting professor in 2009 and 2010, focusing on consumer protection. She added that she sees a lot of parallels between the union movement and consumer protection in their shared fight for economic justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Porter also emphasized the importance of treating university workers like any other employee in the private or public sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c(The UCs) want to be their own category,\u201d Porter said. \u201cBut at the end of the day, they\u2019re paying payroll, and they need to honor the labor laws.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a statement, UC Office of the President spokesperson Heather Hansen said the UC has been bargaining in good faith with the union in their mediation talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hansen added that the number of bargaining units makes negotiations more complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur focus is on making real progress while ensuring any agreements are financially sustainable and workable across the entire UC system,\u201d Hansen said in an email. \u201cWe strongly disagree with the union\u2019s unfair labor practice claims, which can be filed during negotiations before they are reviewed or determined to have merit. Real progress happens at the bargaining table, and that is where UC remains focused.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hundreds of members of United Auto Workers Local 4811, a union representing 48,000 student employees, postdocs and academic researchers across the UC system, held a protest at the steps below the Campanile on March 12 over alleged unfair labor practices by the university. According to union sources, union leaders will&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/03\/14\/gsi-union-pickets-in-last-chance-rally-ahead-of-sunday-strike-decision\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47193"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47194,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47193\/revisions\/47194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}