EdSource reports more than 200 faculty members across UC's campuses had signed the pledge as of Monday afternoon.
The pledge states, quote: "As long as this strike lasts, faculty across the system will be exercising their right to honor the picket line by refusing to conduct university labor up to and including submission of grades...”
The striking academic workers — including teaching assistants, graduate student researchers, academic researchers and postdoctoral scholars — are asking for better pay, benefits and job security. The strike involves four separate bargaining units, all of which are represented by United Auto Workers.
UC and UAW bargained for 10 consecutive days before taking a break for the Thanksgiving holiday, a UC spokesman told EdSource on Monday. Negotiations will resume this week.
Seven of UC's nine undergraduate campuses are on the quarter calendar and are now in their last week of classes, with final exams scheduled for next week. At the Berkeley and Merced campuses, instruction ends next week and finals are scheduled for the following week.
EdSource also reported that one of the four striking groups – academic researchers and postdoctoral scholars – had reached a tentative agreement with the administration, but would remain on strike in solidarity with the other three groups.
