Some UC students struggle as academic worker strike continues with finals approaching
Like many students across California, UC Merced student Ananya Veerapaneni has found classes a bit more challenging during the past three weeks with teaching assistants on strike.
Especially with finals quickly approaching.
“Students are definitely suffering,” said Veerapaneni via e-mail to the Sun-Star. “Many of our TAs help us prepare for finals and most of us have seen a grade dip.”
Final exams for UC Davis undergraduates start this week, and Giselle Ariza, 18, is terrified.
Normally the first-year student would go to the the library and get help from one of the calculus tutors, but since most of them are on strike, she’s on her own.
“Honestly it’s really stressful, way more stressful than I thought it would be,” Ariza told The Sacramento Bee of her first quarter on campus. “Yesterday I was bawling my eyes out.”
Nearly 48,000 academic workers across the University of California system have been on strike for nearly three weeks over alleged unfair labor practices.
Postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers, represented by UAW Local 5810, came to an agreement with administrators early Tuesday morning.
But teaching assistants, tutors, graders and student researchers are still bargaining. All workers say they’ll remain on strike until the contracts are ratified.
“The UC has failed to support a diverse workforce and it undermines the quality of research and education,” said Albert DiBenedetto, who is a TA and a doctoral candidate in the department of Physics at UC Merced.
“Compensation does not match the cost of living and inequitable working conditions are pushing scholars out of academia.”
The strike has had a huge impact on students and classes across UC campuses. Many students have seen classes canceled because professors don’t want to cross picket lines.
“I get why they’re on strike, but it also sucks for us,” Ariza said. “I wish the school would’ve done something before it got to this.”
UC Davis third-year student Aniya Smith, 20, hopes the final exam in her philosophy class will be open book and on Zoom. She hasn’t had a lecture or discussion in three weeks since her professor is honoring the picket line and doesn’t fully understand material from the last unit.
“I’m anxious,” Smith said. “The hardest content we had to learn is when they went on strike.”
Veerapaneni says she hasn’t seen many classes canceled at UC Merced.
“Most lecturers have not canceled classes because we have finals coming up so soon,” she said. “While lecturers support the strike, they cannot act due to this being the most academically pressing time.”
Smith worries about passing the class so she can make progress toward her communications degree. But she emphasized that she fully supports the striking workers and hopes the university will present them with fair contracts soon.
“I want people to get paid what they deserve so they can live. It’s the least the college can do,” she said.
The Sacramento Bee contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 5, 2022 at 5:30 AM.
