A broad coalition of UCSB unions, including faculty, staff, and students, will rally on May first. The immediate reasons are clear: the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, which represents clerical, grounds, and service staff across the University of California system, is negotiating an employment contract for its 22,000 members, 500 of whom work here in Santa Barbara. The UCSB Professional and Technical Employees union, which represents 150 workers on our campus, will begin negotiating its contract in September. The United Auto Workers, which represents 1,800 teaching assistants on our campus, will begin negotiating in June 2018.
We expect the University of California to offer salaries, benefits, and workplace protections — from job security to basic safety precautions — that make living and working in Santa Barbara tolerable. But if the university does not, asking for more from those with less, we aim to bargain for our livelihoods with the support of the local community.
These are the immediate reasons. But collective bargaining also has a broader significance that community members may not understand, one that is celebrated on May Day.