A union is an organization formed by workers in order to have a voice in the workplace. Through a union, employees have the right to negotiate as equals with our employer over the terms and conditions of our employment through a process called collective bargaining. Over 2,500,000 workers in California are part of a union, including over 57% of public employees and 60% of all employees at UC, and thousands more choose to unionize each year.

Collective bargaining is a process, protected by state law, that equalizes the power relationship between employees and our employer.

Through our union, researchers, educators, and professional staff at the University of California elect peer representatives to negotiate with the UC Administration over improvements to our wages, time off, career advancement, protections from discrimination and abuse at work, and many other terms and conditions of employment. These negotiations result in an agreement with the University guaranteeing our workplace rights. Once this agreement is democratically ratified by union members, it becomes a legally binding contract.

Without collective bargaining, UC management has unilateral power to change our working conditions. With collective bargaining UAW 4811 members have improved our workplace, helped the University to achieve its core missions of research, instruction, and public service, and have raised standards for higher education employees everywhere.

UAW 4811 includes Academic Student Employees (Teaching Assistants, Readers, Tutors, and Graduate Student Researchers), Postdoctoral Scholars, Academic Researchers (Specialists, Project Scientists, Researchers, and Coordinators of Public Programs), and Professional Staff (including Student Services, Research, Engineering, Public Service, Communications, Marketing, and Sales Professionals). ASEs, Postdocs, Academic Researchers, and Professional Staff negotiate separate contracts.

UAW 4811 members work together to resolve workplace issues and ensure that the University follows our contract. If you are having a problem at work, contact organize@uaw4811.org or fill out this form and a peer union representative will reach out. Our contracts include a fair, neutral, and transparent grievance process for resolving disputes with the University, with the ability to appeal to an independent, third party arbitrator rather than allowing UC management to police itself.

Being a union member means joining the majority of your coworkers at UC to build a better life, a better university, and a better world. The life-changing improvements achieved by Academic Student Employees, Postdocs, Academic Researchers, and Professional Staff at UC were only possible because a strong majority chose to form a union. We can protect those gains and win more only when a strong majority continue to choose to be union members.

Union members:

• Set priorities for improvements to make through collective bargaining

• Elect coworkers to serve as officers and bargaining representatives

• Vote to approve or reject our union contract

• Ensure the University honors the agreements that it makes. 

Members contribute union dues in order to have the shared financial resources necessary to negotiate as equals with the University administration, and work together to have a greater voice in the state and national policies that impact us, like funding for science and higher education and visa and immigration policy.

Click here to join the majority of your coworkers as a union member.

Collective bargaining takes collective resources. The University of California is a $50,000,000,000 institution, and dues allow UAW 4811 members to negotiate with our employer on equal footing. Dues also ensure that our union is of, by, and for UC employees rather than being accountable to outside donors or our employer.

Dues are a one-time $10 initiation fee, and 1.44% of gross monthly pay, deducted automatically from each paycheck when working as in an Academic Student Employee, Postdoc, Academic Researcher, or Professional Staff position.

One portion of our dues goes towards the day-to-day operations of UAW 4811, including legal fees for enforcing our current contract and negotiating the next one, and hiring staff to support members in organizing and building our collective strength.

UAW 4811 is also part of the international union UAW, which includes over one million active and retired workers in various industries. A portion of our dues goes towards our international union, which provides bargaining expertise and legal support, and helps support other workers to form unions. Other members’ dues from all over the country helped our union to form, and our dues are currently helping un-unionized staff at UC to join UAW 4811, as well as other workers in higher education, manufacturing, and other types of workplace.

The largest portion of our dues goes into the Strike and Defense fund, which provides weekly pay and benefits in the event that members vote to strike. This adds to our power in bargaining because UC management knows we have the resources to walk off the job if necessary.

International employees have the same rights as US citizens to form, join, and participate in unions. Thousands of visa-holders are currently members of UAW 4811 and hundreds of thousands have been members since our union formed in 1999. Union members have negotiated contracts with standard-setting protections for international and immigrant workers. Additionally, international workers have advocated through our union for fair visa policy, including extending STEM OPT, opposing visa restrictions on Chinese international students, taking legal action to stop the Trump travel bans, and more.