UC Strike Statement of Support

Tuesday, December 6, 2022

Tenants Together is proud to stand in solidarity with UC academic workers on strike. As a coalition of tenant organizations mobilizing for better conditions for renters, we find common cause with workers organizing against any employer that fails to treat them with dignity, respect, and sufficient wages and benefits. As a public university, UC must sign a fair contract and pay living wages for the workers who are educating our communities. As Californians, our tax dollars should be spent on the public good. That can only happen under fair working conditions.

 

For years, we have heard from UC students and academic workers across the state about the dire economic conditions they face and their housing instability. We have long been in conversation with graduate student union chapters of multiple UC campuses about their concerns around housing affordability.

 

We have seen all too often that universities, even public universities, can make decisions that drive displacement and gentrification. California's affordable housing crisis impacts the health and stability of students, academic workers, and the communities in which they reside.

 

UC academic workers have been very clear that they are not pitting their interests against poor and working-class Californians, but demand solutions both for union members and for the communities in which they live. This is the kind of working-class solidarity that we dream of as we work to build a more just housing future for every Californian.

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