These are scary and tenuous times for many of us at the University. We’ve witnessed the federal government’s attacks on higher education and seen the funding be curtailed and held back not only for research, but also the programs that support the needs of our diverse student population.

At the same time, we’ve also seen what’s possible when people come together through the lawsuits and mass advocacy organized by unionized workers who showed that we can effectively fight back against these attacks.

Now, many of us are ready to bring that same collective effort to fight for what we need around our own workplace at the UC.

Just a few weeks ago, I voted along with thousands of staff of the newly organized Research and Public Service Professionals, Student Service and Affairs Professionals and the Academic Student Employees to authorize our bargaining teams to call an Unfair Labor Practice Strike, if the circumstances justify.

While I still hope that University leadership will take the necessary steps to cure their unfair labor practices, my colleagues and I are prepared to strike if that’s what it takes to make the university follow the law.

As a staff member who has been at UCLA for over 23 years, a former UCLA undergraduate and graduate student, I’ve seen the UC pride itself on its educational support programs and research achievements. But the people carrying out those programs have been asked to do more with less and take on multiple roles with no promotion or additional pay. It’s coming to a crisis point.

At the bargaining table, we’ve been pushing management to finally address this widespread problem, which is deeply personal for me and my colleagues. At one point in my career, I was asked to absorb the full duties of a departing supervisor, on top of my existing responsibilities, with no additional pay and no reduction in my current workload.

I often rushed home after picking my children from childcare – and after making dinner – spent countless evenings logging back into my work computer and staying up long after my children were asleep, just trying to keep up. Many of us come to work at the UC because we believe in the mission, we believe in our research and we believe in the public good we’re providing.

I know I’m not alone in this story. Time and again, staff members across UC are asked to take on more without clear pathways for promotion, timely equity reclassification processes or any meaningful workload protections. We are continually asked to do more with less; and we have done it, quietly and faithfully, for too long.

Our colleagues who support the research, public service and student advising missions of this university deserve better. We all do.

The external threats to higher education make this moment even more urgent. At the very time when our university community needs stability, support and strong institutional backing, UC management is choosing to stall at the bargaining table and deny us information necessary to inform bargaining.

We cannot afford to fight on two fronts against federal attacks from outside and against bad-faith bargaining from within.

It’s time for UC management to follow the law so we can reach a fair resolution and move forward as a united institution.

Leila Espinosa is a project manager at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. She is also a former UCLA undergraduate and graduate student.