The California primary election is March 5th, and candidates across the state have asked for UAW-UC academic workers’ endorsement and support. As academic workers and union members, we must make sure our elected representatives are strong union allies. We’ve sacrificed to build our collective power, and we will only endorse those who walk side by side with us when we need their solidarity.
Please click here for a list of UAW-endorsed candidates in California and make your voting plan! If you don’t see an endorsed candidate in your district, you can also find the California Labor Federation’s list of endorsed candidates here. You can find your polling place and ballot drop boxes as well as the candidates who will be on your ballot with this tool from the California Secretary of State.
Members of our union have voted to endorse Katie Porter for the U.S. Senate, as part of UAW Western States, which covers UAW locals all over the West Coast. Katie is a champion for our union and for higher-ed workers in California. In 2019, shortly after being elected to Congress, she initiated a Congressional letter to pressure UC to recognize a union for Academic Researchers. Again in 2021, she led 30 members of Congress in urging UC President Michael Drake to meet Student Researchers’ demand for union recognition, and in 2022 she organized a bloc of California legislators to pressure President Drake to settle a fair contract. These critical inflection points showed UC that our collective power extended beyond our campuses and ensured that we had broad public support behind our demands for a fair UC.
Katie Porter meets with UC Irvine academic workers.
Other candidates in this race also have a progressive record, but no other candidate has Katie Porter’s record of support for academic workers. Will you help turn out your colleagues and other members of the community to vote for Katie Porter?
Click here to help get out the vote for Katie Porter!
Around California, academic workers are supporting many other candidates who have shown up for our movement. These include California Labor Federation President Kathryn Lybarger for State Senate and Eduardo “Lalo” Vargas for City Council in Los Angeles, Sade Elhawary for State Assembly in Los Angeles, and Terra Lawson-Remer for San Diego Supervisor. At the same time, union members are helping build the movement: canvassers are asking every voter we talk to if they need support forming a union or have connections to workers at Tesla.
If academic workers are going to win strong contracts in 2025 and beyond, it’s crucial to have pro-higher ed, pro-labor representatives at the city, state, and federal levels, and to ensure that they have our backs when we head to the bargaining table with UC. To help make that happen, support the candidates that academic workers have voted to endorse!!
In solidarity,
Jeannine Pearce
Graduate Student Researcher, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Irvine
UAW-UC Irvine