On Friday, Dec. 9, The University of California Office of the President said it was “pleased” an agreement to enter private mediation with the United Auto Workers to discuss labor relations has been reached. The milestone comes after months of negotiations, and weeks of strikes across UC campuses.

Letitia Silas, Executive Director of Labor Relations for the UC’s Systemwide Human Resources, said this process of neutral mediation is a path to quickly resolving this issue.

“The University is pleased that the UAW has agreed to neutral private mediation so that we may resolve our differences and end the strike that has been impacting our students, faculty, and staff,” Silas said. “We remain committed to securing a fair and reasonable contract with the union that honors the hard work of our valued graduate student employees. With the help of a neutral mediator, we hope to secure that agreement quickly.”

In its latest proposal to unions, UC is offering Academic Student Employees — teaching assistants, which represent more than 60% of bargaining units — three-year salary increases of 26%, with experience based increases, and more than a 20% increase on childcare reimbursement.

Set to be implemented by Oct. 2024, the newest proposal also includes new base salaries ranging from $29,000 to $36,000. 

The UC is also offering to cover “100% of all campus fees” for eligible academic student employees working more than 10 hours per week or 25% or greater appointments.

Total compensation for teaching assistants, including base salary, campus fees and childcare reimbursement would range between $46,700 to $74,700, according to the University of California’s newest offer.

Graduate Student Researchers would see three-year salary increases of up to 52%, while remaining eligible for experienced based increases. By Fall 2024, the new proposal indicates the base salary for GSR would range between $30,500 to $48,500.

Strikes across UC campuses began on Nov, 14, and have shown no sign of slowing — even as the demands of some unionized workers were met earlier this month.

On Tuesday, Nov. 24, UC postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers agreed to salary increases and workplace improvements, but continued to strike in solidarity with other unionized groups.

Currently, there is no timeline on the mediation process. However, once discussions begin, the parties involved will be barred from speaking publicly about the status of mediation.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting Irvine Weekly and our advertisers.