This post was updated April 1 at 9:45 a.m.

Two unions have called on nearly 60,000 of their members to strike across the UC on Tuesday, marking the second such strike in two months.

The University Professional and Technical Employees-Communications Workers of America 9119, which represents researchers and technical workers across the UC, called the strike in response to alleged University unfair labor practices, including bad-faith bargaining and failure to disclose employee vacancy rates. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, which represents patient care, service and skilled craft workers, announced it would strike in solidarity with UPTE-CWA 9119.

AFSCME Local 3299 began contract negotiations with the UC in January 2024 – five months before UPTE-CWA 9119 – but neither union has reached a contract agreement.

Tuesday’s strike will be AFSCME Local 3299’s and UPTE-CWA 9119’s third strike this academic year.

UCLA Housing closed most dining halls and consolidated menus in response to AFSCME Local 3299’s November and February strikes. During UPTE-CWA 9119’s February strike, however, UCLA Health facilities remained open and operational.

[Related: AFSCME Local 3299, UPTE-CWA 9119 march across UCLA campus, disrupting dining halls]

UCLA Housing said in a statement to the Daily Bruin that “all-you-care-to-eat” dining halls – De Neve, Epicuria at Covel and Feast at Rieber – will shift to a to-go model Tuesday. Bruin Café, Bruin Plate, Café 1919, Epicuria at Ackerman, Rendezvous, The Drey and the Study at Hedrick will be closed, according to the UCLA Dining website.

It added in the statement that food trucks will remain operational.

“The open, all-you-care-to-eat facilities will shift to a to-go model, allowing us to accommodate a higher volume of students despite having fewer open locations,” UCLA Housing said in the statement. “Our goal is to maintain services and reduce wait-times during this period while minimizing the impact of the strike on our students.”

UCLA Housing said in an email that housekeeping schedules for bathrooms would be changed due to the strike.

Students reported long lines due to reduced dining hall hours and locations during previous strikes.

Nike Cholden, a third-year sociology student, said the previous strikes increased wait times for food, but otherwise did not affect her day.

“The lines were maybe a little bit longer, but it was fine,” she said. “It wasn’t a big deal, it didn’t affect me that much.”

During the February strike, student organizers from the Student Labor Advocacy Project advised people to boycott ASUCLA stores, alleging that ASUCLA profited from increased sales during the November strike. However, SLAP is not calling on people to boycott ASUCLA locations during this strike, according to a post on its Instagram.

“While our boycott of ASUCLA was successful in decreasing sales by 40% and showing the powerful impact of student-worker solidarity, we are still researching the most strategic tactics to apply economic pressure against UCLA during strikes,” the post said.

UCLA Housing said in an email that alternate methods have been arranged to collect and bring packages to campus, which could possibly cause delivery delays. UCLA Mail, Document, and Distribution Services said in an email to employees Wednesday that the strike may affect delivery services and encouraged departments to stock up on necessary supplies.

“(The strike) may affect delivery services, as drivers for companies like UPS, FedEx and Amazon may choose not to cross picket lines,” the statement said. “To mitigate any disruptions, we encourage all departments to implement their continuity plans and stock up on essential supplies immediately.”

Todd Stenhouse, a spokesperson for AFSCME Local 3299, said that the UC has not addressed the affordability and staffing issues which have been impacting many union members across the University. He added that he believes that the University has not engaged in good faith bargaining.

“We struck in November over UC essentially bypassing the bargaining process to impose higher health rates, health care costs on its lowest wage workers, which again, only deepens the pay cut they’ve already experienced,” he said. “(It) since has escalated, the threats of intimidation, seeking to silence workers for speaking out about these affordability issues, about these staff vacancy issues – and in some cases, limiting their access to their union representatives.”

Max Belasco, a co-chair of UPTE-CWA 9119’s UCLA chapter, said that the UC has struggled to retain employees. He added that the University has not been transparent about data regarding vacancies during negotiations.

“The UC has not been forthcoming with vacancy data or information about that in our negotiations,” he said. “In addition to that they’ve also been pushing back on our ability to raise awareness about this particular issue.”

Stenhouse said that these vacancies increase risks of both mistakes and injuries on the job.

UPTE-CWA 9119 also filed an unfair labor practice charge March 17, alleging that the University created new job classifications to diminish the union’s collective bargaining power.

UCLA Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Darnell Hunt said in a Thursday email that the UC has been working to develop agreements with AFSCME Local 3299 and UPTE-CWA 9119, even during a time when the University is facing challenges as a result of recent federal policies. Ursula Quinn, the vice president of UPTE-CWA 9119 and an occupational therapist at UCLA Health, said workers’ titles have been changed to ones that are outside the union.

“We’ve then done the work to reach out to bring these folks back into the union,” she said. “UC has made this extremely difficult, and it seems like their intention is just to drag out bargaining longer, which, again, is going to prolong those impacts on the work that those folks do and add to the acuity of the staffing crisis.”

Quinn added that she finds it disappointing to be going on strike once again after February’s strike, which was UPTE-CWA 9119’s largest to date.

UC President Michael Drake announced March 19 that the University would freeze hiring in response to federal and state budget cuts.

[Related: UC implements systemwide hiring freeze following federal, state threats to budget]

“This action comes as UC continues to attempt to enter into agreements with AFSCME and UPTE — and during a very difficult time for our entire university, as we face attacks on the value of higher education, budget challenges, a hiring freeze, and further funding reductions at the state and federal levels.”

Hunt added in the email that the university is working on plans to minimize the impact of the strike on campus and clinical operations.

UC Office of the President spokesperson Heather Hansen said in an emailed statement that the UC has attempted to engage in good-faith negotiations.

“It’s disheartening to hear mischaracterizations of our positions and actions during these negotiations, as we’ve been genuinely trying to find solutions that work for everyone,” she said in the statement.

Contributing reports by Alexandra Crosnoe, National news and higher education editor.