The American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees Local 3299 (AFSCME 3299) hit the strike lines in solidarity with the University Professional and Technical Employees-Communication Workers of America of America 9119 (UPTE-CWA 9119), continuing a series of protests against the University of California (UC) system’s alleged unfair labor practices.
The one-day strike lasted from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on April 1, 2025, and spread awareness of the union’s experiences at the negotiation table with the UC system, staff shortages across the system and increased healthcare premiums.
The strike was first announced on March 21, 2025, when the AFSCME 3299 X account shared a post stating, “UPTE-CWA 9119 is holding a one-day ULP strike on April 1 against UC’s unfair labor practices. Like us, they have been affected by UC’s bad-faith bargaining, which has been preventing them from reaching a fair and just contract. We won’t stand by. We will be going on strike in solidarity with our union siblings.”
That same day, UPTE-CWA 9119 posted, “UPTE members won’t accept UC’s unlawful unilateral healthcare increases on our vulnerable coworkers and their families, nor will we accept bad-faith bargaining & divide-and-conquer tactics.”
Alton Carswell, a spokesperson for UPTE-CWA 9119 and a case manager at UCR shared that one of the things that the unions want the UC to do is to “actually come to the bargaining table, be proactive and follow up on some of the proposals that we brought up, because understaffing is a major issue that we’re concerned about.”
Commenting on his own experiences working with the Case Management department at UCR, Carswell explained, “I, myself in a department of two, with one supervisor dealing with about 600 students per quarter. Multiply that by three, and you’ll get an idea of how many students we see a year. It’s really difficult because of understaffing. You’ve got students who are backed up in getting services.”
Carswell continued, “All three of us [in the department] are alumni from the UC and we’re here doing this work because we want to see students get across that finish line. And it’s getting more difficult. Students are coming in with a lot of difficult issues that they’re managing. We’re just not being given the support with more staffing to help us get through that, and to support our students and support the professors that we assist.”
Senior Cook in Dining Services, Jesse Hernandez, has been employed by UCR for 25 years. Hernandez has been actively involved with AFSCME strikes throughout this academic year and shared updates regarding the negotiations taking place at the bargaining table.
Commenting on the healthcare increases that were proposed, he claims, “UPTE has filed charges against the UC, and [the UC] repeatedly breaks laws. They’re not held accountable. I believe one of the two charges was [regarding] increases in healthcare. [AFSCME 3299 has something] similar that we know about, because our rates for healthcare have gone up illegally.”
Hernandez commented on wage increases and market adjustments that various UC chancellors received over the last few academic years. He emphasized, “I believe Wilcox got a 28% [pay] increase, in addition to [the 4.2 percent increase received by all chancellors statewide] and, I believe the chancellor for [UC] San Diego received a 78 percent increase they wanted him to equally match the salary of a million dollars, as if he was the chancellor at [UC] San Francisco. The University has priorities, send[ing] the message that all they do is take care of themselves.”
AFSCME 3299 began contract negotiations at the bargaining table with the UC system in January of 2024, a few months before UPTE-CWA 9119 began their negotiations. Currently, neither union has reached a contract agreement with the system.
Additionally, UC Riverside’s Housing Services sent an email to notify students that “street and sidewalk traffic around the campus is likely to be impacted by activity. Due to the combination of the Labor Action and the current maintenance work occurring on Canyon Crest Drive, some bus lines serving the campus area may have been rerouted.”
Residential restaurants Glasgow and Lothian offered a limited menu, and various other on-campus dining venues were either closed or offered reduced hours. They requested in the email that “residents using Dining Dollars, please use the campus retail locations on this union activity day.”
On March 21, 2025, the UC put out a statement on the strike notice claiming, “We’ve been working hard with both unions and have offered what we believe are strong proposals that recognize their important work” and that “it’s disheartening to hear mischaracterizations of our positions and actions during these negotiations, as we’ve been genuinely trying to find solutions that work for everyone.”
They followed up with another statement on April 1, 2025, sharing, “We have met with AFSCME and UPTE for months to try to settle these contracts, offering generous wage increases, monthly credits to reduce health care expenses for lower-wage earners, expanded sick leave, and improved ability to schedule vacation time. We’ve offered these early in negotiations, more than a year ago for AFSCME, and eight months ago to UPTE, to try to encourage contract closure and avert unnecessary disruptions like these.”
The UC further claimed that “UPTE and AFSCME are not being forthright in their characterizations, which is upsetting since we’ve made sincere efforts to find mutually beneficial solutions.”
