[Update: Mon., Nov. 10, 2025, 11:11am] UPTE, the union that represents 21,000 UC system healthcare, research, and education professionals, has reached a tentative agreement with the University of California. Dan Russell, UPTE president and chief negotiator, called the deal a “hard-won victory,” in a statement on Saturday, “one that will benefit millions of UC patients and students, as well as people across the world who benefit from UC’s cutting-edge research.”
As a result, UPTE has called off the strike pending a membership vote, which will occur this week. More details on the agreement are to come.
Additionally, UC workers belonging to other unions, such as AFSCME and CNA, are continuing to fight for similar agreements, and UPTE stands in solidarity with them.
[Original Story] More than 21,000 University of California healthcare, research, and technical workers plan to walk off the job November 17 and 18.
UPTE-CWA 9119, the union representing the 21,000 workers, formally announced the strike Wednesday. Members of AFSCME 3299 and the California Nurses Association (CNA) are expected to join the action in solidarity, bringing the total number of UC workers on strike to more than 83,000. That would make it the largest labor strike in the university system’s history.
The strike follows 16 months of contract negotiations and a failed mediation with the UC Office of the President. It marks the fourth strike this year by UPTE members and reflects escalating tensions between university administrators and the workers responsible for keeping UC’s hospitals, laboratories, and student services running.
“This fight is about the future of UC’s patients, students, and research,” said Dan Russell, UPTE president and chief negotiator. “The fact that these warnings are being ignored proves there is a real crisis, and UC’s inaction is unacceptable. Our members will do whatever is necessary to hold UC accountable to its mission of providing world-class healthcare, research, and education for all Californians.”
In Santa Barbara, union members will gather at Storke Tower on the UCSB campus for two days of picketing and rallies. “We’ll go marching multiple times,” said Samuel Feinstein, a lab manager in the UCSB Department of Mechanical Engineering and a member of the campus bargaining team.
Feinstein said the strike is not open-ended but could lead to longer actions if the impasse continues. “We wanted to show President Milliken, who just came in [this August], what our strikes are about,” he said.
The core demands center on staffing, wages, healthcare costs, and work-life balance. “People have a lot of vacation but they can’t actually use it,” Feinstein said. “They’ll apply to use their vacation and get denied because they’re needed.”
Feinstein cited shrinking student health services at UCSB as a symptom of the larger problem. “They laid off physical therapists this quarter. There’s longer waiting times for the students here,” he said. “We’re a Division I sports school. We have no physical therapists.”
UPTE members include mental health clinicians, IT workers, lab scientists, research associates, and medical staff across UC’s 10 campuses and five hospitals. Union leaders argue that persistent understaffing, low pay, and poor retention are undermining UC’s ability to fulfill its public mission.
The UC’s most recent “best and final” offer included a series of pay increases — 5 percent in 2025, 4 percent in 2026, and 3 percent the following two years — but it also preserved UC’s right to impose unlimited increases to healthcare premiums starting in January.
To Feinstein, that’s not a serious offer. “It’s more of a legal definition of ‘last, best, and final offer,” he said. “But really, it’s usually their first okay offer.”
Students and community members are invited to join the picket lines in support. “They can come out and join us whenever they have time over the two days,” Feinstein said.
UPTE is calling on the UC to return to the table and commit to meaningful investment in safe staffing and compensation. Whether this becomes the largest UC strike ever now hinges on what happens next.
