We Did It!

CALIFORNIA

A one-day, statewide strike showed University of California (UC) officials that the 7,300 members of Local 3299 — the lowest-paid workers in the system — really make the university run. The day after the walkout, management asked to resume bargaining, and within two days the parties reached a tentative agreement. It was approved by a smashing 87 percent vote.

Highlights of the three-year pact: a 10-percent pay increase; a $250 lump sum payment; 2.5 percent in equity adjust-ments, primarily for custodial classifications; a $9/hour minimum living wage that immediately affects about 600 workers, mostly in food service; and 24 hours of paid education leave per year.

In the largest strike in UC history, custodians, food-service workers and bus drivers had virtually shut down nine UC campuses, plus five hospitals and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The contract expired in June 2004. It was extended, but talks had stalled over promotion tracks and wages, and the workers were frustrated.

"It was awesome," says Local 3299 Pres. LaKesha Harrison. "Members of other unions representing UC workers came out to support us in numbers we had never seen before. Construction workers refused to cross our picket lines. Teamsters refused to make deliveries. We saw managers carrying bread and other supplies from the trucks." At UCLA, the firefighters set up a barbecue, cooking for the students so they wouldn't have to cross the picket lines.