UC Researchers and Public Service Workers Unionize

7,200 UC Research and Public Service Professionals Vote Yes to Form a Union

They are the latest group of professional staff to join the UAW organizing movement

Berkeley/Los Angeles, CA  – Today, votes were tallied in a union election for 7,200 Research and Public Service Professionals (RPSPs) across all campuses of the University of California. RPSPs voted overwhelmingly for their union, RPSP-UAW, 3,080 to 612 — 83% voting yes. RPSPs are full-time, professional staff who perform work critical to UC’s academic and research mission—and who have been organizing to gain greater power to sustain and improve that work.

 

RPSPs perform a broad range of work that UC depends on and the public benefits from, including supporting advances related to pediatric cancer, ending homelessness, space science, and public health. They are responsible for running core facilities, administering grants, data analysis and more. RPSPs cite a range of issues as their reasons for forming a union, from stagnant salaries despite increasing workloads to threats to job security and a lack of transparency in administrative decision-making. In the face of federal funding cuts to higher education, many RPSPs also want a union to gain a stronger political voice.

 

“I’m thrilled we won our union because I know my colleagues have the expertise necessary to help strengthen the UC in these difficult times, and now we finally have our seat at the negotiating table,” said Leila Espinosa, Project Management Professional at UCLA.

“Forming a union has never been more important with higher education under increasing attack. We are joining a movement of research and professional employees in UAW who have been at the forefront of fighting funding cuts and protecting jobs and values in higher education. Many of our closest colleagues at UC are already a part of this movement, and through an incredible organizing effort, we have now gained the same rights and bargaining power as them,” said Deborah Ferguson-Fitch, Research Administrator at UCSF.

“As the Trump administration continues its assault on workers, it’s never been more important to join the movement of tens of thousands of higher education workers throughout the country who are standing up for social and economic justice at their jobs and in their communities. UAW members across the country look forward to standing with RPSPs in their fight to improve their working conditions, to protect research funding, and to create the better world we all deserve,” said Mike Miller, UAW Region 6 Director.

RPSPs are joining over 50,000 researchers, professional staff, and academic workers at the University of California who are already unionized with the UAW. They are part of a movement of higher education workers across the country increasingly turning to unionization to gain a voice in determining their working conditions.

Learn more at: https://rpsp-uaw.org/