Students supportive of U.C. Workers deal as strike reaches end
DAVIS (CBS13) -- After 32 days, the U.C. worker's strike has come to an end.
The strikers, primarily graduates and postdoctoral employees, will see increased raises in a deal that extends out to 2025, which includes childcare subsidies, increased paid family leave, and lengthened academic appointments.
Throughout the labor action, students had classes altered and grades frozen.
"I'm a third year now, so I'm taking harder classes, and that's when I need another help aside from the professor, and that's when I realized the T.A.s are really important here," says Dev Singh, a UC Davis student.
Singh is one of many whose end to the quarter was affected by the work stoppage.
"Our projects and papers weren't being graded until the very end," he explains. "One of my classes, I got my first project grade after my finals ended."
The deal between the U.C. system and the multiple unions representing graduate students, assistants, and postdoctoral employees was broked with the help of Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg.
"This agreement represents a fundamental transformation for graduate-level higher education," Mayor Steinberg said in a statement. "With this breakthrough, the University of California will continue to attract the best and brightest minds to our state."
"These agreements will place our graduate student employees among the best supported in public higher education," said U.C. President Michael Drake in a statement.
On campuses, there was widespread support for the striking workers. Mohammad Reza Narimani, a grad student at UC Davis, feels that getting a deal done was necessary.
"It should be like that, especially like students that are doing research here," says Narimani. "They're even working [harder] than others in [private sector] industry, so I think they deserve a higher salary."
While Dev, a third year at UC Davis, sees how indispensable the T.A.s and graduate assistants are.
"They're very important for students, and I'm glad they finally got what they deserved, they got their raises, and I'm glad they're gonna be back next quarter," Singh says.
"I think now we know our assignments are getting graded, and T.A.s can reply to emails again," adds fellow third-year Yume Shek. "That's great."
