Who Will Pay the Price for UC Workers’ Raises?

Last year’s union-backed strikes across University of California campuses won historic raises for its 48,000 academic workers, but UC campuses are now faced with the challenge of funding the wage increases set within those new labor contracts. 

Cuts to graduate student admissions are being considered as a potential avenue for university departments to be able to afford the increases, sprouting concerns from UC communities. Locally, UC Santa Barbara is still chewing over its options as it works out how to bankroll the pay hikes.

“This is a complex budgetary issue and our campus is still looking at the details of the agreements,” UCSB remarked in a statement to the Independent. “We are still working to understand the increased costs, and given that the contracts involve significant salary increases, it is expected that there will be a serious budgetary impact.”