On April 1, more than 20,000 healthcare, research, and technical professionals across the University of California system will walk off the job in a massive, statewide Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike.
The strike, organized by the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE-CWA 9119), comes in response to what union leaders call a persistent pattern of unlawful behavior by the UC administration—including refusing to bargain with newly-organized workers, imposing increased healthcare costs without negotiation, and exacerbating a staffing crisis that is putting patients, students, and research at risk.
Striking workers include mental health clinicians, pharmacists, optometrists, clinical researchers, IT analysts, case managers, and lab scientists—frontline staff who care for patients, support UC students, and drive groundbreaking research on cancer, climate change, virology, and more. At UC Davis alone, over 4,000 workers are expected to participate in the walkout.
The strike marks the third labor action in six months by UC workers, who say the university’s repeated legal violations and failure to address unsafe working conditions have made it impossible to deliver the quality care and services Californians deserve.
Union leaders say the catalyst for the strike is the UC system’s refusal to recognize the urgency of the staffing crisis and its unlawful efforts to delay and derail collective bargaining. “We brought our concerns about mental health staffing to the bargaining table nearly three years ago,” said Marlene Vasquez, a behavioral health counselor at UC Davis. “Delays in care can mean hospitalization—or worse—for our students. Yet UC continues to drag its feet.”
According to a recent report by the San Francisco Standard, a cancer patient at UCSF Parnassus waited 52 hours in the emergency department before being admitted—by which time she had lost the ability to walk. Her story is emblematic of a systemic failure across UC’s hospitals: wait times at UCSF now average 258 minutes, far above the national average of 191 minutes for high-volume hospitals.
“It’s long, but not unusual,” said Kacie Cooke, a UCSF emergency department physician assistant and UPTE member. “I’ve seen patients wait 60, 70, even 90 hours.”
Despite these figures, UC spokespersons deny a staffing crisis exists. Heather Hansen, a representative of the UC Office of the President, claimed that “headcounts are increasing” and turnover is “flattening.” But this directly contradicts public comments made by UC’s own leadership.
In February 2025, UC President Michael Drake admitted to the State Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance that the university was intentionally leaving thousands of positions vacant year after year to balance its budget.
“We have thousands of vacant positions that we continue to roll vacant year after year,” Drake said, “and use that funding to be able to support the gaps that we have.”
UC CFO Nathan Brostrom acknowledged in 2023 that systemwide vacancy rates are triple what they were before the pandemic. Regent Sures raised alarms last year about emergency department overcrowding and rising wait times. Still, workers say UC has failed to respond meaningfully—or even share vacancy data that unions are entitled to under state law.
In its latest ULP charge, UPTE accuses the university of violating labor law by isolating newly-organized bargaining units and refusing to negotiate with them as part of the larger bargaining process—a divide-and-conquer tactic that prevents workers from winning unified improvements in pay and staffing levels.
UC’s decision to force separate negotiations not only undermines the bargaining process but serves as a deliberate strategy to weaken the union, UPTE claims. The complaint also alleges that UC unilaterally increased healthcare premiums for certain union members without prior notice or bargaining—a clear violation of collective bargaining rules.
“These are not isolated incidents,” said Dan Russell, UPTE President and Chief Negotiator. “UC’s pattern of divide-and-delay is an affront to the very workers who care for California’s sick, educate our students, and conduct vital public research.”
Russell added that UC’s executive priorities are misplaced: “Instead of investing in frontline workers, UC has expanded its senior management ranks by 42% since 2018—nearly double the growth of frontline staff. Meanwhile, they plan to spend over $30 billion in coming years on real estate deals, hospital acquisitions, and private partnerships.”
Behind the statistics are real people suffering real consequences. Clinical research coordinator Maryam Azizadah described being overwhelmed by the demands of managing cancer trials for over 70 patients at UCLA.
“I was making mistakes, missing emails, because I was one person doing the job of two,” she said. “And I felt really guilty.”
Behavioral health counselor Amelia Cutten at UC Santa Cruz shared similar frustrations. “Our students are coming to us at critical times—experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma—and we’re constantly overbooked,” she said. “We just want them to get the best care.”
These accounts are supported by internal UC data: more than 65% of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) staff across the UC system have less than five years of experience, with vacancy rates between 19% and 37% at seven out of ten campuses in 2023.
The resulting delays in care have caused serious problems—students in crisis are left waiting weeks for appointments, and faculty researchers are burdened by short-staffed labs and inconsistent technical support.
Despite UC’s public denial, even its Regents have acknowledged the severity of the staffing shortfall. Yet workers say those acknowledgments haven’t translated into meaningful action.
“The UC Regents talk about the problem,” said Chevelle Sleaford, a clinical researcher at UCLA, “but when it comes from workers on the ground, it’s like we’re invisible. We’re the ones keeping this institution running.”
Sleaford added that her work in cancer research is directly jeopardized by delays in hiring and high turnover. “When positions are left unfilled, patients don’t get enrolled in clinical trials on time. It’s not just paperwork—it’s people’s lives.”
For many UPTE members, the April 1 strike is about more than contracts or grievances—it’s about the future of public education, public healthcare, and scientific progress in California.
As federal threats to academic freedom, abortion access, and climate research mount, workers are calling on the UC to stand with them in defense of these values—not act like a private corporation obsessed with expansion and austerity.
“UC needs to ask itself: does it want to side with billionaires trying to dismantle public services—or with the people who actually make those services work?” Russell asked.
In the absence of sufficient staffing, emergency rooms are overwhelmed, research is stalled, and students are denied care. Workers say they are striking not just for themselves, but for everyone who depends on UC—patients, students, families, and communities across the state.
As one patient, Marisa, put it after spending more than two days in the UCSF emergency room: “I appreciate everyone here—the nurses, the janitors, the transporters, the people who bring me coffee. I want them to have hope, too.”
The April 1 strike will be the third labor action in less than a year by UC employees. While the university insists it is ready to return to the bargaining table, UPTE says that won’t mean much unless UC stops violating labor laws and starts taking its workers—and the people they serve—seriously.
The picket lines will be visible at all ten UC campuses and major medical centers, including Davis, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Berkeley. At UC Davis, more than 4,000 workers are expected to participate, with a rally and press availability scheduled for 11:30 a.m.
