OAKLAND, CA / AGILITYPR.NEWS / April 15, 2026 / AFSCME 3299 says UC Illegally Engaged in Bad-Faith Bargaining with Lowest Paid Workers who have been working without contract for nearly two years

Oakland: The union representing more than 42,000 University of California Service and Patient Care Technical workers (AFSCME Local 3299) has announced that its members will mount an open-ended, system-wide ULP Strike across the University of California System beginning on May 14th. Workers will strike at all 10 UC campuses, as well as Medical Centers, Research Laboratories, Clinics and other UC facilities across the state.  This will be the first open-ended labor strike ever at the UC Health system.

The charges that led to the action stem from the University’s refusal to bargain over housing aid for its lowest paid workers, and its imposition of contract terms, including higher healthcare rates despite being legally required to bargain over such changes.

“For more than 2 years, AFSCME 3299 has worked to negotiate successor agreements that address the acute affordability crisis facing the University’s frontline service and patient care workforce,” said AFSCME Local 3299 President Michael Avant. “Instead of bargaining in good faith, UC has imposed terms that amount to pay cuts and refused to bargain over the housing crisis that is most responsible for our members being forced to sleep in their cars and in homeless shelters. Since, UC won’t meet its legal obligation to bargain in good faith, we have been left with no choice but to strike.”

AFSCME 3299 represented service workers include custodians, groundskeepers, food service workers, parking and security personnel. It’s patient care units include medical assistants, MRI technicians, operating room assistants, respiratory therapists and licensed vocational nurses. Both sets of UC employees have been working without a contract since 2024 and are amongst the lowest paid workers in the UC system.

While recent news and research have both shown that UC is in the strongest financial position in its 150 year history,  data shows UC’s frontline service and patient care workers falling further behind. Press reports have detailed stories of these workers relying on homeless shelters, public housing, sleeping in their cars and enduring impossibly long commutes due to low wages and skyrocketing housing costs. While current University housing programs offer hundreds of millions of dollars worth of sub-market rate home loans for the University’s highest paid employees each year, and were recently expanded to include helping its chancellors purchase second homes, lower paid employees are generally not eligible for these programs. 

“UC’s lowest paid frontline workers have been priced out of the communities where they live and UC has not only refused to bargain over solutions, they have illegally sidestepped bargaining altogether to make our affordability crisis worse,” said AFSCME 3299 Executive Vice President Kathryn Lybarger. “UC’s most vulnerable workers have waited three years for UC to stop its serial lawbreaking and negotiate in good faith. UC hasn’t, and that’s why we are prepared to strike for as long as it takes to get them to change course.”

UC is responsible for creating staffing contingencies to support its operations during legally protected strike activity. In making its announcement, AFSCME Local 3299 is providing UC with a full month’s notice to make these contingency plans. As it has previously, AFSCME Local 3299 also plans to voluntarily exempted several dozen critical care workers from strike participation and will create a patient protection task force---a line of communication with UC hospitals--that will enable certain striking workers to support emergencies during the work stoppage if UC’s contingency plans are insufficient to meet patient needs.

AFSCME Local 3299 will detail picket times and locations next month.