48,000 University of California academic workers on strike

By JOCELYN GECKER and CHRISTOPHER WEBER

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nearly 48,000 unionized academic workers at all 10 University of California campuses have walked off the job, demanding better pay and benefits. The strike launched Monday by researchers, postdoctoral scholars, teaching assistants and others threatens to disrupt classroom instruction across the statewide university system. It also comes weeks ahead of December’s final exam period. The workers forming picket lines say that without significant pay raises, they can’t afford living in cities with soaring housing costs such as Los Angeles, San Diego and Berkeley. UC has offered a salary scale increase of 5% the first year and 3% afterward, adding it entered talks with a genuine willingness to compromise.