Three UC-wide unions representing 40,000 academic and research employees authorized an unfair labor practice strike Friday.

Members of United Auto Workers Local 4811 academic student employees’ unit, as well as Student Services and Advising Professionals-United Auto Workers and Research and Public Service Professionals-United Auto Workers participated in the vote, which opened Feb. 5 and closed Friday. About 93% of more than 23,000 participants voted to authorize the strike.

The vote authorization does not necessarily mean that the unions will strike but rather authorizes each bargaining team to call one if they deem it necessary.

“By refusing to give us information and unilaterally changing our working conditions, UC administrators have created serious obstacles to reaching a fair contract,” said Rafael Jaime, the president of UAW Local 4811, in a press release. “It’s not too late for UC to choose a different path and bargain in good faith, but as of today, our bargaining committee is authorized to call a strike if circumstances justify.”

The unions – which are currently in negotiation with the UC – are demanding better pay, job security and protections for international workers, according to the unions’ strike vote website.

“There’s already people who are dedicating their lives to service in the UC, and we’re saying, ‘Just invest in those foundational structures,’” said Nandini Inmula, a statewide elected bargaining team member of SSAP-UAW who serves as the assistant director of career services at the Luskin School of Public Affairs.

[Related: Unions hold strike authorization vote, urge UC stand up to Trump administration]

Two of the three unions – SSAP-UAW and UAW Local 4811 – began negotiations with the University in July, and RPSP-UAW started bargaining with the UC in October.

RPSP-UAW, which formed in September, and SSAP-UAW, which the UC formally recognized in April, are currently working to establish their first contracts with the University. The last bargaining session between the two unions – which are bargaining together – and the UC was held Feb. 2 to 4.

UAW Local 4811’s contract was initially set to expire Jan. 1, but the union and the UC agreed to extend its previous contract to Feb. 28. The union last met with the UC from Jan. 26 to 28, and the two parties are scheduling their next negotiation session for this month.

The two newly formed UAW unions alleged on a website made by the three unions about the vote that the UC has bargained in bad faith. The UC, they claimed, has not responded to requests for information pertinent to bargaining – including on wages and health benefits – and some campuses have issued return-to-office mandates without providing notice or negotiation opportunities, according to the website.

UAW Local 4811 also alleged that the UC failed to respond – or insufficiently responded – to more than 50 requests for information on health benefits, wages and other information relevant to negotiations.

The union has filed multiple unlabor practice charges about UCLA’s alleged reductions to the university’s math teaching assistant appointments, TA appointment caps in the English and ecology and evolutionary biology departments, and recent fee increases for two master’s degrees, according to its website. 

[Related: UCLA math department TA, grader cuts spark concern over student learning, support]

The union also filed an unfair labor practice charge after UCPD arrested – and subsequently released – two math TAs during November protest at UCLA, according to the website.

[Related: UCPD releases arrested graduate students after finding they did not commit a crime]

UAW Local 4811 has demonstrated against President Donald Trump’s federal research funding cuts and visa revocations since the start of his second term in January 2025. The union delivered an October petition with over 10,000 signatories to UC administrators, demanding that the University protect its international workers.

[Related: UAW Local 4811 members continue negotiations amid teaching hours being cut]

The three UAW units threatened to strike during a November rally at UCLA, in which union members alleged the UC delayed contract negotiations and offered unfair counterproposals to the unions’ demands.

[Related: UAW units rally, threaten strike for fair wage, job protections in new UC contract]

UAW Local 4811 last went on strike in spring 2024 to protest alleged unfair labor practices. The union alleged in an unfair labor practice charge that the university violated employees’ rights when law enforcement officers used force against union members during the May 2, 2024, sweep of UCLA’s Palestine solidarity encampment.

Three unions, which later merged to create UAW Local 4811, went on a nearly six-week strike in late 2022 to demand better pay and benefits – the largest higher education strike in United States history. The strike ended when the two parties came to a contractual agreement, which the union currently operates under.