Over 120 people gathered at Quarry Plaza for the “Our Rights, Our Future” rally on Nov. 20. The rally was held by three academic worker unions, calling for the University of California to meet the unions’ contract demands and end their negotiation processes.
The three unions that came together for the rally were UAW 4811, SSAP-UAW,which includes student service and advising professionals and RPSP-UAW, which includes research and public service professionals. Together, the unions represent over 60,000 academic workers across the UC.
“This rally is a warning to the UC,” wrote Rebecca Gross, a graduate student and Santa Cruz’s unit chair for United Auto Workers (UAW) 4811 in an email to City on a Hill Press. “If the UC administrators want to avoid a UAW strike in 2026, then they should take us seriously and come to the table ready to meet our demands.”
SSAP-UAW and RPSP-UAW are two newly formed unions, and are negotiating their first-ever contracts. UAW-4811 is in the midst of a 4-month long bargaining process for demands in their new contract, which is nearing its expiration on Jan. 1, 2026. Though the three unions are negotiating separate contracts, some of their demands overlap, the most prominent being fair pay and job security.
“The university should make the right choice to pay workers to live where they work,” said Katherine Johnson-Rogers, a teaching assistant in the literature department and member of UAW-4811. “It’s upsetting that they don’t make the choice on their own, but I feel encouraged and enlivened when students and workers come together to fight to make a university that works for all of us.”
Attendees held various handmade and printed signs throughout the rally.
Heather Hansen, a communication strategist for the UC Office of the President responded to UAW’s rally in an email to City on a Hill Press.
“We fully support the right of all UAW-represented UC employees to speak up on the issues that matter to them,” she wrote. “Their work strengthens our campuses, and we appreciate the impact they make every day. We’re in active negotiations with four UAW units and are encouraged by the momentum toward a mutually beneficial agreement.
Jess Fournier, a Ph.D. candidate in the Feminist Studies Department and recording secretary for UAW 4811 commented on this response.
“I feel like ultimately the university really just cares about their bottom line. And all that this [response] really says is that at this moment, they don’t feel moved to respond to any threats to their bottom line,” Fournier said. “When you hit the university in their pocketbook is when they decide to actually respond.”
At 4 p.m., four speakers gave speeches through a megaphone, each calling the audience to fight together. Meg Kan, the prevention education coordinator at the Center for Advocacy, Resources, and Empowerment (CARE) and SSAP-UAW union representative, was the first speaker.
“Right at this very moment, at every single UC campus, thousands of UC UAW workers across the state are standing united,” they said during their speech. “We’re here because we understand our working conditions and our students’ learning conditions. Without us, the UC would not run.”
If the UC does not meet the workers’ demands, the unions are prepared to continue speaking out.
“We will only strike if it’s necessary,” Kan said in an interview with City on a Hill Press. “We’re committed to bargaining in good faith, and it’s only if the UC doesn’t meet our demands or keeps bargaining in bad faith, will we strike.”
Organizers cut and pass out cake to rally attendees.
