A University of California (UC) faculty association estimates members will withhold more than 37,000 student grades for the fall semester in solidarity with an academic worker strike that has continued into finals week.
After months of negotiations, 48,000 researchers and student employees across all 10 UC campuses launched a strike Nov. 14, demanding, in part, pay raises due to cost-of-living increases.
The strike has left some classes without instructors and professors without teaching assistants to grade assignments and end-of-semester exams, which took place this week.
The association has been vocal in support of the strike and encouraging faculty to further support it by refusing to “pick up struck labor,” including submitting final grades, which is often the responsibility of teaching assistants.
Meanwhile, UC leadership is urging faculty to submit grades—and even threatening to withhold pay for those who do not.
In a Nov. 30 letter to UC administrators, UC Provost Michael Brown said faculty have the “responsibility to maintain course and curricular requirements,” including the “timely awarding and submission of grades.”
Brown added that the UC could “withhold their compensation” if they “choose to withhold their labor during the strike.”
Faculty association officials said in a Nov. 23 statement that those who decline to pick up strikers’ work are protected under state law, and grading final exams would “undermine the strike’s impact and falsely communicate to both students and the administration that we can continue to do our jobs without the labor of striking workers.”
UC Davis Provost Mary Croughan said in a Dec. 2 statement that not receiving a grade on final exams will not influence a student’s grade point average, financial aid, or eligibility for veteran benefits or visa status.
UC Davis also extended the deadline for faculty to submit grades from Dec. 14 to Dec. 28.
Spokespersons for the other UC campuses were not immediately available for comment.
UC officials struck a tentative deal with postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers in late November—who say they will not return to work until the demands of the graduate students are met.
The union representing the strikers—United Auto Workers—agreed Dec. 9 to enter into mediation in hopes of resolving a stalemate in negotiations with university officials.
