RESEARCH AND PUBLIC SERVICE PROFESSIONALS ARE GETTING Ready for OUR UNION election!
A majority of Research and Public Service Professionals (RPSPs) across the UC are coming together to negotiate for better, more sustainable working conditions. On August 18th, everyone in an RPSP title (7,500 of us in total) will receive a secure electronic ballot where you will have the opportunity to vote to form Research & Public Service Professionals-UAW. Voting will close on Friday, August 29th, at 5pm PDT. Additionally, there will be an election hotline you can call during business hours if you encounter any difficulties voting. View the full election agreement here for more details. This webpage will be kept up to date as we learn more from the state labor board on e-ballot logistics.
Since February, we have been experiencing sudden pauses to our projects, uncertainty about future support of our programs, and other factors beyond our control. Now, RPSPs seek to gain a seat at the table to ensure our compensation and workplace protections are fair, equitable, and consistent because the rights and benefits we earn through bargaining cannot be unilaterally withdrawn or altered by UC. By organizing with UAW, the largest union at UC, we are joining over 50,000 UC employees already affiliated with UAW, including over 5,000 Student Service and Advising Professionals who recently formed their union with UAW and have just begun bargaining with management.
Thousands of us signed union authorization cards this Spring in support of RPSP-UAW to hold this upcoming vote to form our union and reach the negotiating table by the Fall alongside 41,000 of UC-UAW employees so we can respond to the crises in front of us collaboratively and fairly.
How do I know if I’m eligible to vote?
If you receive a ballot on August 18, you are eligible to vote! Anyone who was on the payroll as of July 1 will receive a ballot. Even if you are leaving your position soon, it’s important to vote because the more YES votes there are for RPSP-UAW, the more power we will have to win improvements and protections for thousands of staff at UC! See the FAQ for the full list of titles included in this effort.
We have a clear choice in this election
While Research and Public Service Professionals (RPSPs) work across many different offices, departments, and campuses, we are united by a shared goal to improve our working conditions and to have a powerful, collective voice in upcoming UC-wide decisions that impact us.
Here at UC, there are over 140,000 unionized employees who show up to work every day and help make our institution the greatest research facility in the world. Meanwhile, Research and Public Service Professionals are one of the last groups of UC staff to form a union and it shows: our pay has increased 10-37% behind our unionized staff counterparts over the past decade. The majority of UC employees already have a seat at the table to negotiate with UC and a strong political voice to stand up for themselves and their colleagues in the California statehouse and in Washington, DC. Now it’s our turn.
If a majority of us vote “YES!” to form RPSP-UAW, UC will be legally obligated to meet us at the bargaining table and negotiate with us on important issues like our salaries, benefits, and workplace protections, collaboratively developing and committing to binding contracts.
Voting “YES!” in this election enables the contract negotiation phase to begin. If we win, we will then elect a bargaining committee of our colleagues and begin a democratic process to decide our collective priorities for bargaining. The more RPSPs who vote and participate in our union, the more power we will have to win on our priorities. Once we have reached tentative agreements with UC on all our issues, RPSPs will need to vote again on whether or not to ratify our first contract. Choosing to unionize as RPSP-UAW means that you will have ongoing, direct voting power and a voice in each step of the negotiation!
Through thousands of conversations over the last few months, RPSPs have expressed frustration with a range of issues, from stagnant salaries despite increasing workloads to threats to job security and a lack of transparency in administrative decision-making. Over 90% of RPSPs are either hybrid or remote employees, and many want to maintain this flexibility to work remotely. (And Gov. Newsom calling CA State workers back to the office in March does not provide any comfort.) Securing the terms of our compensation, benefits, and working conditions through a collective bargaining agreement will prevent the UC administration from making changes that impact our work experience and quality of life without our consent. Together, we can bargain for a fair union contract that enshrines what we currently enjoy in our workplace while also making much-needed improvements.
I’ve been lucky enough to have had great supervisors over my decade long experience as a Research Administrator. However, I realized that this experience is unique and not everyone at the UC level can advance in their career, be compensated fairly and be protected from overwork equally. I often see colleagues working late into the night or on weekends because teams are understaffed due to a high turnover and stressful environments where adequate training is not always provided. I want to be part of a union so that everyone can feel supported, treated fairly and have a better work life balance.
I support Research and Public Service Professionals unionizing at UC because I believe our work is under attack. We deserve real protections, promises from UC to keep our jobs hybrid, and meaningful salary raises that reflect our contributions and sustain the people who support the vital work we do everyday. Our best shot at accomplishing this is through a union of, by, and for staff like us.
Everything good about work has come from a union: Social Security, Medicare, pensions, 40 hour work week, and worker protections. Now is a time for better wages, promotions, and a more just University. Research and Public Services Professional Staff deserve a voice at our University and I support forming a union.
how we got here: Growing our power as staff at UC
Research and Public Service Professionals (RPSPs) at UC have actively sought representation for years now, initiating conversations with unions like UPTE and UAW and contemplating independent unionization. Last summer, we began to build a representative organizing committee with colleagues across the UC to assess which of our job titles could be included in our union. We also launched a survey to learn more about our colleagues’ priorities and experiences in the workplace. Hundreds of one-on-one conversations between coworkers and the results of the survey indicated a unified sense of priorities among us. It’s time for RPSPs to win better wages and benefits, greater clarity about career advancement, and improved job flexibility and security. The Trump administration’s endless threats to higher education and research have only fueled our urgency to form a union.
In January 2025, RPSPs decided to affiliate with UAW because we are committed to a democratic and participatory process for building a union composed entirely of RPSPs. Before making these decisions, RPSPs interviewed representatives from both UAW and UPTE, another existing union at the UC, to learn about the values and organizing approaches of these unions. We ultimately decided to affiliate with UAW, as documented in this report.
By doing so, we have chosen to build our union through the following process:
(1) Thousands of us sign union authorization cards with UAW, and then RPSPs will decide to form our union in a UC-wide vote.
(2) We RPSPs will democratically decide our own bargaining priorities and elect our own colleagues to represent and negotiate these priorities.
(3) RPSPs will actively participate in every aspect of bargaining to maximize our power to win a strong contract.
Since deciding to affiliate with UAW, RPSPs have had thousands of one-on-one conversations with one another, met in small groups, organized town halls attended by hundreds of us, and signed thousands of union authorization cards to support the formation of our union. We have already successfully demonstrated our ability to grow our collective power and are prepared to continue to do so. Through our own union, formed democratically and with substantial participation, RPSPs can negotiate a unique contract that makes the most sense for us and build on gains made by UPTE, UAW, and other campus unions.
I joined UCLA 20 years ago because of a shared commitment to improving public education through research. As a manager in our unit, transparent and equitable career pathways, working conditions, and compensation would allow us to meaningfully hire and invest in our staff – allowing us all to thrive and make a significantly bigger impact. As an employee approaching retirement, I am also experiencing significant challenges in understanding and properly preparing for my next steps. I support forming a union to improve transparency and equity for research and public service professionals.
My contract with UC Berkeley offers some job security, but not enough. These short term contracts put a mental and financial toll on people. I know we can do better. This is one of the many reasons I support research professionals forming a union. I believe in the democratic bargaining power unions hold and know that we are working towards having a truly representative union that will lead to an improvement in our working conditions.
Joining a Movement to Secure Our future
Research and Public Service Professionals are joining with unionized employees across UC to address the serious threats we’re facing as an institution and gain a stronger voice to protect our critical work and our livelihoods. One central goal in our effort to form a union is to gain a strong political voice in the California statehouse and Washington, DC, to advocate for sustained funding for education and research.
Most recently, RPSP-UAW helped plan the April 8th Day of Action in which thousands of UC Research and Public Services Professionals and other higher education workers in UAW stood up to defend UC’s budget and research mission. Our rallies across all 10 campuses made the news statewide and raised the pressure on elected representatives to combat the funding cuts threatening our jobs, our communities, and the health of our nation. Since then, RPSPs along with UAW members have visited Sacramento multiple times to push legislators to fully fund the UC and will not let up the pressure.
On May 14th, UC annouced that Governor Newsom revised his proposed budget cut to the UC from 8% down to 3%, but we didn’t stop there. RPSPs and fellow UC-UAW employees continued mass lobbying and letter writing campaigns to our California lawmakers. By July 1st, the state legislator passed a budget with zero cuts. Through the collective action of RPSPs and other UAW members, we prevented $400 million in cuts to the University.
By joining UAW as a new union of research and public service professionals, we’ll be able to continue leveraging our expertise and power to defend UC’s budget in spite of the Trump administration.
I study pediatric cancer at the University of California Santa Cruz. 70 years ago, 80% of kids with pediatric cancer died from it. Now, because of publicly funded research, 80% survive, but 20% still do not. We are developing new ways to treat these kids and everyone else who has a rare disease. Childhood cancer is a devastating thing. Without federal research funding, we’re going to go backward and lose even more kids than we already are. With a union, research and public service professionals at UC will have more power to protect federal research funding.
A History of Worker-Led Unions in Higher-Ed
Over 100,000 academic employees across the US have already chosen to join UAW. This includes staff at CalArts, Cornell, NYFA, and Columbia University as well as postdocs in the UC system, at University of Washington, Columbia, and Mt. Sinai. In the past few years, Research Scientists and Engineers at UW voted 85% in favor of unionizing with UAW, NIH Fellows voted 98% in favor of unionizing with UAW, and Professional Scientists who work for the State of California voted 88% in favor of unionizing with UAW. Mt. Sinai, USC, and Caltech academic employees voted overwhelmingly in favor of ratifying their first union contracts. Most recently at UC, 5,000 Student Service and Advising Professionals won their UAW union. By uniting together, academic employees are driving up standards in higher education and building a powerful voice for all.
Thousands of UAW members and RPSPs rallied at the April 8th Day of Action held across UC campuses to urge elected officials to combat the funding cuts that affect our livelihoods.
MORE ON UNIONIZED WORKERS IN THE NEWS:
Gallup: More in U.S. See Unions Strengthening and Want It That Way
Data Snapshot: Tenure and Contingency in US Higher Education
Unionization efforts pick up across US universities
NPR: Support for Labor Unions is at a 57-year high
Nature: NIH researchers vote to form a union for the first time
Seattle Times: UW researchers, engineers, postdocs reach tentative agreements
LA Times: UC strike energizes unprecedented national surge of union organizing by academic workers
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is included in RPSP-UAW and can vote in the upcoming election?
Our union is made up of staff supporting research, administration, and public service from each campus and job code coming together to represent and advocate for ourselves. If you have one of the following UCPath job codes, you are included:
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If you supervise or manage your team in your workplace, you can still vote just as you have been able to sign a card.
Will we be joining any of the existing UAW unions at UC or forming our own bargaining unit?
To be clear: we are not seeking to be included in existing UAW bargaining units of the 53,000 grad workers, postdocs, project scientists, specialists, and professional staff. We are joining with UAW as a separate bargaining unit. UC Student Services and Advising Professionals recently did the same thing and will be bargaining their own contract soon. We believe that organizing with UAW is not only more democratic and representative of RPSP interests, but that it builds more power to bargain with the UC administration.
How will my workplace experiences be represented during bargaining?
RPSPs will continue to talk and listen to one another to develop a strong sense of priorities across all job titles, departments, and work locations through bargaining surveys, team discussions, town halls, and votes. Overarching goals will be drafted by bargaining committee members (colleagues we will elect) and voted on by all of us.
Because our bargaining stance is stronger and more representative with more participation, it will be up to each of us to participate and encourage our colleagues to participate so we can negotiate the best possible outcome for all of us. What makes our union truly ours is that we go one-by-one, listening and learning in an effort to make sure everyone’s questions are answered as we proceed.