We will keep updating this page to ensure the latest guidance is being provided (last updated 06/11/2024).
UAW Strike Guidance and Implementation
UAW 4811, which represents UC academic student employees and postgraduate researchers, voted on Wednesday, May 15th, to authorize a strike in response to an Unfair Labor Practice charge against the University of California.
The University of California, Office of the President created a webpage with information and resources about UC-UAW news and updates. To view this webpage, click here.
Frequently Asked Questions
The following FAQs provide guidance and answers to many strike-related questions.
Strike Support
- Who can I contact for strike support?
- For questions – especially those that college/school or departmental resources may not be able to resolve – please contact the Academic Affairs team at strikequestions@ucdavis.edu. Responses can be expected within one business day.
Latest Updates
- When will the strike or work stoppage start?
- The UAW has announced that they will call their members to strike at UC Davis starting on May 28, 2024.
- Is there support for Instructors of Record who choose to change their exams in response to the work stoppage?
- For those Instructors of Record who may choose to employ Scantron grading for their final exams, UC Davis’s Scantron grading service is available through Undergraduate Education (UE), which is ready to help. UE will offer extended service for Scantron grading this quarter. You can find more information here or write directly to testscore@ucdavis.edu. Given the potential for high demand for Scantron grade sheets due to the ongoing UAW labor action, UE has a large supply on hand and will, until those stocks are depleted, distribute them free of charge to Instructors of Record.
General Guidance
- Are there any guidelines on what is or isn't permissible as a supervisor/manager?
Guidelines for Supervisors/Managers (including principal investigators) Permissible Actions
Impermissible Actions to Avoid
• Do review timesheets before approval to ensure information reported is accurate.
• Do take lawful steps to ensure safety and security at University campuses and properties. Report misconduct or threats to safety and security.
• Do take lawful steps to ensure unobstructed entrances and exits.
• Do take lawful steps to ensure continuity of operations. Do plan for potential disruption of ongoing research as a result of a strike. Plans for the preservation of experimental materials and the like must be carefully prepared.
• Do refer employees to their union if they have questions regarding union membership, union activities, and potential strike activity.
• Do plan for supporting student academic progress, including alternate methods of instructional delivery and educational continuity.
• Do stay in close contact with your local Labor Relations and Academic Personnel offices and promptly report threats to safety and security, violence, or other misconduct or dangerous circumstances.
• Do not photograph, video, or generally “monitor” employees striking activity for reasons unrelated to ensuring safety, security, and access. This includes refraining from monitoring or perusing employees’ social media.
• Do not make statements to employees intended to elicit a response concerning their union activity or union sympathies.
• Avoid tweets and comments on social media (encouraging or discouraging employees’ protected activities, including strike activity) which purport to be official statements on behalf of the University.
• Do not ask employees about their protected activities, their union sympathies nor the protected activities/union sympathies of others. Protected activity includes strikes and protests concerning terms and conditions of employment or bargaining.
• Do not discipline, discharge, reprimand, or otherwise take adverse action against employees for engaging in this illegal strike without consulting Academic Affairs or Graduate Studies.
• Do not deal directly, solicit grievances, or make promises to employees, including Senate and Unit 18 faculty and student employees, based on their participation/non-participation in, or support/non-support, for a strike.
- May I ask who intends to walk out in support of the labor action?
- Yes. It is appropriate for you to ask if your student employee plans to perform work during this illegal strike. If you have specific performance or personnel concerns, please contact Academic Affairs at strikequestions@ucdavis.edu. Responses can be expected within one business day.
- How long is the work stoppage expected to continue?
We are unable to predict the duration or timing of the work stoppage. The University of California will continue to work to persuade the UAW leadership to call off this illegal strike and we will provide updates and additional guidance as needed.
Academic Student Employees, Graduate Student Researchers, Postdoctoral Scholars, and Academic Researchers are valuable members of the UC Davis community. We appreciate your commitment to advancing our critical teaching and research missions during this challenging time.
- What should supervisors of these workers (including PIs) do at this time?
- Consider the possibility that progress on research projects may be delayed. If you have questions about progress on research projects, contact Sponsored Programs.
- Can the represented worker ask to use vacation during the strike?
- No, unless you have previously approved vacation requests for this period. No new vacation requests should be approved for workers who choose to withhold their labor. Those who choose not to work should record their time off as Leave Without Pay (LWOP).
- What do I do if an employee fills out their timesheet as if they were working, but I know the employee was participating in the strike and not working?
- If you know that the employee has entered false information on their timesheet, you should not approve it. You should return it to the employee and ask them to correct it to reflect their actual work performed.
- Should I tell employees who participated in the strike to fill out their timesheet as PPO or vacation?
- No. They should mark their timesheets as Leave Without Pay (“LWOP”).
- What about members of bargaining units who choose not to strike and report to work?
HEERA protects the right of employees to engage or to refrain from engaging in concerted activity. No employee should be discriminated against for electing not to strike and reporting to work. This is particularly the case where a strike is illegal, as is the case here.
Instructional Impacts
- What impacts are anticipated?
- We anticipate a period of unknown duration where some of these workers will not fulfill their job duties. These duties may include but are not limited to: teaching lectures, labs, and discussion sections; grading submitted work and entering/maintaining grades; tutoring; supplemental instruction; research; outreach; program administration; and other duties assigned.
- What are the rights and responsibilities of faculty with respect to continuity of instruction?
- Faculty have an obligation under the APM to deliver the curriculum. Given that, faculty should exercise discretion about managing their courses and making changes necessitated by circumstances, doing their best to minimize the impact on enrolled students.
Consider temporarily pivoting to alternative instructional modalities and/or employing non-traditional learning assignments. Per existing policy of the Committee on Courses of Instruction, in-person courses may conduct up to ten contact hours per quarter in a virtual manner (without requiring the course to be approved as a hybrid or virtual course). Contact hours are defined as time when instructors are presenting to or interacting with students, e.g., lecture, laboratory, discussion. Contact hours do not include office hours. Learn about COCI policy and procedures here. - What is expected of chairs, faculty members, and other instructors?
- Chairs are responsible for working with college/school leadership and educators to ensure instructional and research continuity. Educators are expected to maintain instructional activities for all students. Chairs will work with instructors who need support or guidance in implementing continuity plans.
- Can department chairs hire readers to help with grading during strike activity?
- Should a significant number of student employees withhold their labor, funds may be made available to help with grading needs in the event of prolonged work stoppage.
- What should an instructor of record do at this time?
If you currently supervise one or more ASEs (TAs/Readers/Tutors) in an instructional setting, please plan ahead for the possibility of a strike. Students will expect you to be the authority on how the course will proceed. The specific actions you take will depend on different circumstances, but may include the following:
• Notify your students of the possibility of a strike, how they could be impacted, and steps you will take in the event of a strike. Instruction should not be cancelled because of the strike.
• Maintain clear and frequent communication with your students. Remind them that you will be the main point of contact during the strike, and ensure they know how to reach you.• Focus on maintaining course continuity. Among these priorities should be preserving each student’s access to the course and materials.
• Identify any aspects of the course that may be postponed, abbreviated, or omitted, and revise your lesson planning and grading rubric accordingly. Consider engaging your students in making these revisions and be transparent and reasonable with your new expectations.
• Examine the work currently being done by each ASE to understand its stage, how it might be disrupted, and the specific steps you can take to mitigate disruption if it happens.
• Ensure you have access to ASE lesson plans, student grades, graded materials, and submitted work that has not yet been graded.
• If grading will be delayed, ask students to maintain copies of submitted work and post timely sample solutions for them to review.
• Within the limits of the ASE appointment letters, consider reassigning work among ASEs if some choose to work during the strike while others do not.
- How do I prepare for a work stoppage impacting my course or research program?
- (1) Ensure that you have up-to-date access to all course materials and grade data for your courses in Canvas.
(2) Develop or modify existing research continuity plans to cover labs, including ensuring lab safety and securing and maintaining research materials and data. Be prepared to implement continuity plans as needed. - What about graduate courses?
- Graduate instruction should continue. Graduate students are students regardless of their employment status with the university and should continue to participate in university activities during the strike. Graduate classes and the evaluation of graduate student academic progress for grades and credit should continue as normal.
- Can I expect graduate students to complete coursework, including independent study?
- Students enrolled in courses, independent study or otherwise, should continue to do the activities associated with those courses and be graded in response to their academic progress regardless of employment or strike participation. Faculty may still communicate with striking students regarding academic activities.
- Can we give U grades for 299 units if students completely stop research activities?
299 units are flexible units (1-12) associated with a S/U graded course that represents the academic value of the research graduate students conduct as a requirement for their degree.
The research work performed by graduate students employed as GSRs typically has a lot of overlap with the work they need to perform to receive a satisfactory grade in their research units. A GSR not engaging in research work because of the strike will likely not make academic progress in their 299 units during that time. However, as we are in week nine (9) of the Spring 2024 quarter, if performance in these units has been satisfactory so far this quarter, inactivity for a few days should not drastically affect that assessment.
Assessment and grading is a faculty prerogative. The assessment of student performance in any course can only be based on academic criteria that is consistently applied to all students.
- If some TAs want to work and others do not, can I reallocate work to the available TAs?
- Potentially, yes, within limits. TA duties are outlined in the work agreements completed and signed by departments/faculty and TAs at the beginning of the quarter. Duties must fall within the established work agreements. Faculty must also be cognizant of the number of hours of the TA appointment and cannot assign work that would exceed the appointment hours outlined in the agreements.
- Is there support for Instructors of Record who choose to change their exams in response to potential work stoppages?
- For those Instructors of Record who may choose to employ Scantron grading for their final exams, UC Davis’s Scantron grading service is available through Undergraduate Education (UE), which is ready to help. You can find more information here or write directly to testscore@ucdavis.edu.
Guidance and Correspondence
The following dropdown menu contains strike-related guidance and correspondence from leadership. This information will be updated regularly.
- Letter from UC System Provost and EVP Katherine Newman - June 12, 2024
- Letter from UC System Provost and Executive Vice President Katherine Newman regarding academic continuity and leave reporting expectations.
- Communication to all University Employees from UC Office of the President - June 11, 2024
- Email communication from UCOP reminding all UC employees of required attendance and time reporting.
- Message to UAW-Represented Employees from UC Office of the President - June 11, 2024
- Message from UC Office of the President to UAW-represented employees regarding work and leave reporting obligations.
- Update from from UC Office of the President regarding court order - June 10, 2024
- Message to faculty from Vice Provost and Dean Jean-Pierre Delplanque, Graduate Studies, and Vice Provost Philip Kass, Academic Affairs, regarding a temporary restraining order to end UAW strike on June 7, 2024.
- Message to UAW-Represented Employees from UC Office of the President - May 31, 2024
- Message from UC Office of the President to UAW-represented employees regarding leave obligations.
- Letter from Vice Provost and Dean, Graduate Studies, and Vice Provost, Academic Affairs - May 29, 2024
- Letter from Vice Provost and Dean Jean-Pierre Delplanque, Graduate Studies, and Vice Provost Philip Kass, Academic Affairs, neotifying UC Davis faculty of updates and guidance regarding the work stoppage.
- Message from UC Davis leaders regarding recent disruptions to UC Davis' academic mission - May 29, 2024
- Message from Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Pablo Reguerín, Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Jean-Pierre Delplanque, and Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education Michael Bradford regarding the recent disruptions impacting UC Davis' academic mission and campus community.
- Message from Vice Provost and Dean, Graduate Studies, and Vice Provost, Academic Affairs - May 23, 2024
- Letter from Vice Provost and Dean Jean-Pierre Delplanque, Graduate Studies, and Vice Provost Philip Kass, Academic Affairs, notifying UC Davis academics about planned strike activity on May 28, 2024.
- Message from Vice Provost and Dean, Graduate Studies, and Vice Provost, Academic Affairs - May 17, 2024
- A letter from Vice Provost and Dean Jean-Pierre Delplanque, Graduate Studies, and Vice Provost Philip Kass, Academic Affairs, notifying the UC Davis faculty about possible strike activity.
- Guidance from UC Academic Senate - May 15, 2024
- Letter from the UC Academic Senate to Division Chairs with additional information and guidance on several key questions of concern to faculty regarding work stoppages. May also be accessed here.
- Uniform Message to UAW-Represented Employees from UCOP - May 15, 2024
- Letter from UC Office of the President to UAW-represented employees regarding the strike.
- Message from Vice Provost and Dean, Graduate Studies, and Vice Provost, Academic Affairs - May 13, 2024
- A letter from Vice Provost and Dean Jean-Pierre Delplanque, Graduate Studies, and Vice Provost Philip Kass, Academic Affairs, notifying the UC Davis Academic Senate and UC Davis faculty about possible strike activity.
- UC Statements Webpage - Updated regularly
- UC webpage with UAW news and updates about the strike.