This post was updated Nov. 19 at 11:35 p.m.

Nearly 40,000 workers across the UC – including dining hall staff – could strike Wednesday and Thursday.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, which represents patient care, service and skilled craft workers, authorized a strike with 99% support after alleging that the UC failed to meet its demands during bargaining sessions. The strike will impact delivery and janitorial services, on-campus dining halls and the UCLA Health system.

In a statement to the Daily Bruin, a UCLA Housing and Hospitality spokesperson said it will temporarily close certain dining halls on campus and consolidate menus to handle the effects of the strike. Buffet-style dining facilities will also shift to a to-go model with limited menus, and food truck options will be offered, the spokesperson added in the statement.

As of Tuesday morning, the UCLA Dining menu showed that takeout food options will be available from De Neve Residential Restaurant, Feast at Rieber and Epicuria at Covel for the duration of the strike. The menu also states that there will be four food trucks available for dinner, and all food service will be stopped by 8 p.m. – instead of the usual midnight – during the strike.

All other dining halls – including The Study at Hedrick, Bruin Plate and Rendezvous – are listed on the menu as closed.

The De Neve menu also states that only burgers, pizza and a limited selection of fruit will be served for dinner Thursday. A manager at the restaurant Carl’s Jr – which operates an ASUCLA location on campus – said that during the strike, students will also be able to exchange meal swipes for a $9 coupon all day instead of just during lunch hours.

[Related: UCLA announces ASUCLA meal swipes will only be accepted at lunch hours weekdays]

Liz Perlman, executive director of AFSCME Local 3299, said students can expect the UCLA campus to face disruptions during the strike. The union is not currently negotiating with the UC, so no deal will be reached to end the strike before Thursday evening, she added.

“Things are not going to be clean. Garbage won’t be emptied,” Perlman said. “Students know the value of our work – and when we don’t do it, things are dirty, food isn’t cooked and the campus is less safe and less secure.”

UCLA Media Relations could not provide information in time for the publication of this story about the number of workers impacted by the strike, whether the university would be bringing in nonunion workers to make up shortages, the minimum number of workers needed to operate dining halls or student compensation for service interruptions.

Interim Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Michael Levine said in an email to the UCLA community that the university believes strike activity could continue past Thursday. While union members can picket near the exterior of university buildings, they cannot legally block people or vehicles, nor can they interfere with regular campus activities, he added.

The UC and AFSCME Local 3299 began bargaining in January but have yet to reach an agreement, as members of the union allege that the UC negotiated in bad faith. Contracts for both the patient care and service worker units of AFSCME Local 3299 have now expired.

In its unfair labor practice charge, AFSCME Local 3299 claimed the UC increased costs for employee health care benefits without consulting the union. It also said the University illegally made these changes for patient care workers, whose contract with the UC had already expired when the changes were made.

“They kicked us in the teeth by unilaterally imposing hundreds of dollars in monthly health care costs and increasing costs for things like specialty drugs,” Perlman said. “These are drugs that if our members don’t get them, they die.”

AFSCME Local 3299 added in the charge that the UC has not responded to its request for information on staffing, payroll, financial projections and wage records.

[Related: AFSCME Local 3299 to strike against the UC on Nov. 20 and 21]

The union also alleged that the UC’s wage offer – which would bring AFSCME Local 3299 employees to a minimum wage of $25 by July and provide at least a 5% pay increase by the end of 2025 – is unreliable because the University’s proposed pay increase in 2027 depends on state budget allocations. The union said in the ULP charge that it believes its pay increases should not rely on outside factors.

The UC Office of the President said in a statement on its website that the union stopped acknowledging the UC’s bargaining proposals in May. UCOP added in a separate Nov. 8 press release that it believes the strike is premature, but it remains committed to bargaining with the union – noting that the union went on strike six times during its last round of bargaining with the UC in 2019.

“AFSCME’s strike notice is not a surprise, but it is premature and is a disheartening development, nonetheless,” UCOP said in the Nov. 8 statement. “We remain willing and open to meeting with AFSCME to negotiate the terms of their contract.”

[Related: AFSCME strikes for 6th time in 2 years after new labor charges filed against the UC]

Many union members cannot afford to live near UCLA and are struggling on their current salaries, Perlman said, adding that the union needs a contract that supports members through the current housing crisis. California mid-tier homes are now about twice as expensive as the United States average, according to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office.

Students expressed support for the strike as well as concern about the impact it could have on dining halls.

Margherita Scusshe, a second-year bioengineering student, said she supported the union’s right to strike, but she hopes the university can consolidate its working staff to keep dining halls open.

“It’d be nice if they could try with the little staff they have to make something work so that we can get food,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be fancy.”

Leilani Godoy, a first-year English student, said she also understands why the union is striking, but she believes it could put pressure on students to eat at off-campus restaurants – a more expensive option.

“I understand where the workers are coming from,” she said. “It does obviously suck for the students that rely on using the dining halls and using their meal swipes when they can’t afford to eat out.”

Godoy added that she believes the UC should respond to the strike by paying members of the union more, and that it is unfortunate that it has taken so long for the University to do so.

Perlman said she hopes the strike forces the University to negotiate in a way that meets the union’s needs and brings attention to AFSCME Local 3299’s work in keeping UC campuses running.

“Our members are the people who, frankly, you don’t see because the campuses are clean, the food’s cooked, students are taken care of,” she said. “We do need to be taken care of, too.”

Contributing reports by Abhishek Jagannathan and Dylan Winward, Daily Bruin staff.