UAW Undergraduate Letter of Support
University of California Administration
UAW members' working conditions are our learning conditions. These workers are the people who are teaching many of our lessons and providing feedback on our work. They are the first people we go to with questions and their support is essential to our ability to learn. UAW members are indispensable to our learning, and the quality of our education is directly dependent on their labor being valued. A university which is invested in providing a high quality education to its students is a university that pays its workers well and supports them professionally. A fair wage is essential to drawing a robust, diverse group of graduate students; without this, the university is limiting the perspectives of those we are learning from to those who can afford to work for less than a living wage.
UAW members cannot show up fully to their work when they are not being paid a wage which keeps up with a rapidly increasing cost of living in California, when they are struggling to make rent or afford necessities, when they are not being supported in their roles as caretakers, or when they are not being protected from bullying or harassment in the workplace. In order to ensure that workers are supported, the university must bargain in good faith and come to an agreement on a fair contract for UAW members. As undergraduate students at this university, we stand in solidarity with UAW members in their demands for wages that keep up with cost of living, access to public transportation, equity in the workplace, better job security, and protection from bullying or harassment.
Sponsored by
To:
University of California Administration
From:
[Your Name]
Dear President Drake,
As students at University of California, we stand with UAW 5810, UAW 2865, and SRU-UAW members´ demands for better working conditions, a living wage, and a university that is working towards a more sustainable future. We recognize that the labor of these workers, the graduate student instructors, TAs, tutors, and postdoc, academic, and student researchers at this university are essential to its operations, and the education we are receiving requires that they are able to show up fully to their work.
UAW members' working conditions are our learning conditions. These workers are the people who are teaching many of our lessons and providing feedback on our work. They are the first people we go to with questions and their support is essential to our ability to learn. UAW members are indispensable to our learning, and the quality of our education is directly dependent on their labor being valued. A university which is invested in providing a high quality education to its students is a university that pays its workers well and supports them professionally. A fair wage is essential to drawing a robust, diverse group of graduate students; without this, the university is limiting the perspectives of those we are learning from to those who can afford to work for less than a living wage.
UAW members cannot show up fully to their work when they are not being paid a wage which keeps up with a rapidly increasing cost of living in California, when they are struggling to make rent or afford necessities, when they are not being supported in their roles as caretakers, or when they are not being protected from bullying or harassment in the workplace. In order to ensure that workers are supported, the university must bargain in good faith and come to an agreement on a fair contract for UAW members. As undergraduate students at this university, we stand in solidarity with UAW members in their demands for wages that keep up with cost of living, access to public transportation, equity in the workplace, better job security, and protection from bullying or harassment.
We demand that the UC bargain fairly with UAW and give them contracts they need and deserve. Our goal is to support our academic workers to win a fair contract and we as undergraduates will do whatever is needed to make sure that happens. If the UC's bad faith bargaining doesn't end and UAW workers go out on strike, we will be in full support not only refusing to cross the picket line but joining them in solidarity.
Signed,