On May Day — International Workers’ Day — in response to the University of California (UC) wide hiring freeze, two unions returned to the picket line for the fourth time this academic year.
UC Riverside’s (UCR) chapters of The American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees Local 3299 (AFSCME 3299) and the University Professional and Technical Employees-Communications Workers of America 9119 (UPTE-CWA 9119) joined all UC campuses for a “May 1 Unfair Labor Practice Strike at the UC.”
This one-day picket occurred from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 1, 2025, on UCR campus, near the CHANGE THINGS art installation at 900 University Avenue.
During a march around campus, Jesse Hernandez, the current active union organizer for Riverside, shared that AFSCME and UPTE received “threats” from the administration that the strike march could be shut down by the UC police department (UCPD) for allegedly violating the UC’s time, place and manner policies.
Hernandez, a senior cook who has been working at UCR for 26 years, explained that “labor relations told us that we are using amplified sound, which is illegal … and she said, right now, because you guys are using amplified sound I’m gonna take it, present it to the police and it’s gonna be in their hands.”
According to Hernandez, labor relations defined the amplified sounds they were using as “bullhorns and drums,” which they only used while marching on campus; however, around dormitories and residence halls, they did not use “amplified sound,” in compliance with the UC’s policies.
Labor relations also sent Hernandez an email before the rally, which dictated that they could not make “noises between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m.” The march on campus took place around noon, again complying with the UC’s policies outlined to the union.
Hernandez disclosed that this was the first time at UCR that the union was told one of their demonstrations was illegal. He shared that “what it comes down to is intimidation from the University of California … They don’t want anyone to do a friendly protest. They simply want censorship … They want people to be scared and say, oh, no, I cannot exercise my freedom of speech.”
During the strike, the Riverside chapter of the University Council – American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT) Local 1474 held “A Totally Legal Rally in Support of Universal Human Rights, Free Speech and Workers Dignity,” featuring speakers from across UCR and a musical performance by Jonny Miller Jr.
Rally organizer and executive board member of UCR UC-AFT, James Anderson, explained that they organized this rally to show solidarity with the members of AFSCME 3299 and UPTE-CWA 9119 who are on strike because of the UC’s “hiring freeze that’s exacerbating a vacancy crisis of frontline staff.”
Anderson also described the Trump administration’s broader attack on higher education as a motivation behind the rally. He shared, “We organized the rally to show that we are united against the assault on public education, international students and scholars, immigrants, working people, the poor and children — attacks being waged by the current administration, by oligarchs, by the billionaire class and by many employers.”
AFSCME 3299 and UPTE-CWA 9119 called for the “STRIKE! AGAINST UC’S ILLEGAL ATTACK ON WORKERS” on April 15, 2025. According to a press release by AFSCME 3299, in the wake of the UC’s recent decision to impose a systemwide hiring freeze, “UC service and patient care workers will mount a statewide unfair labor practices strike [on] May 1.”
Distinguished Professor Dylan Rodríguez, who spoke at the rally, disclosed that this strike is a part of “an ongoing struggle for UC system workers to obtain a fair contract. A contract that meets a living wage standard, which obtains some honesty and transparency from administrators regarding the UC system’s budget and its misdistribution of funds upward, rather than to workers.”
AFSCME 3299 has filed two unfair labor practice charges with the California State Public Employment Relations Board. The first charge alleges that the UC’s failure “to provide notice or bargain over the hiring freeze and its effects on already short-staffed frontline workers violates state law and long-standing legal precedent.”
The second charge filed by the union is concerning the UC’s recent “decision to deny certain employee benefits to workers who were absorbed by the university’s recent acquisition of six southern California hospitals — even as these benefits were offered to workers at other newly acquired UC facilities.”
Jeanette Obeji, a cook at UCR, proclaimed that all AFSCME members want is for the UC “to hear us and what we are asking for … We just want something fair, and we just want our benefits to be unaffected and we just want their priorities to have [workers] included.”
Anderson echoed similar sentiments, “These workers might not formally run the UC, but they enable the UC to run. To do that work, which involves serving and helping students, they need and deserve adequate staffing and the benefits and adequate wages that university management has hitherto opted to deny them.”
Obeji proclaimed that despite the UC’s repeated attempts at silencing them, the unions “will keep fighting and keep fighting until we get what we want.”
In response to the unions strike announcement, the UC put out a press release on May 30, 2025 — the day before the strike was planned — stating, “The University of California instituted a hiring freeze following financial uncertainties announced by President Drake on March 19, joining many higher education institutions nationwide taking similar measures. The hiring freeze applies to future hires only; it does not impact the employment status of current UC employees. Each UC location is implementing the freeze based on its specific needs, financial situation and pre-existing protocols.”
On the same day, the UC also offered what they claimed to be the “last, best and final contract proposals to AFSCME.” According to the UC, this offer allegedly meets AFSCME’s “original demand of $25 an hour and a five percent wage increase.”
However, AFSCME 3299 spokesperson Toss Stenhouse told The Daily Californian that this new raise meets demands made by the union three years ago. “Our members, as we talk right now, are making 10 percent less than they did in 2017 when adjusted for inflation,” revealed Stenhouse.
