November 5, 2019
RE: University of California Campus and Medical Center Speakers Boycott
Dear Senator Sanders:

We are writing to notify you of an ongoing boycott and labor dispute between the University of
California and AFSCME Local 3299. On behalf of 26,000 service and patient care workers across
the UC system, I ask for your support.

AFSCME Local 3299 has called for the speakers boycott because of the University of California’s
continued role in contributing to economic and racial inequalities at the UC and across the State
of California. AFSCME members are amongst the lowest-paid and the most diverse workforce at
the University of California—91 percent are women or people of color.

After two and a half years of protracted struggle, UC still refuses to negotiate a fair contract that
allows us to support our families and work with dignity. Meanwhile, UC continues to undermine
our wages, benefits and job security by outsourcing our jobs to private companies that pay less. In
fact, since 2016, UC has increased its spending on these low-wage vendors by 52 percent. Today,
it is estimated that UC outsources 10,000 jobs to poverty-wage contractors. A public institution
that receives almost $4 billion from California taxpayers should not be allowed to outsource jobs
that have historically been a pathway into the middle class for disadvantaged communities.
Privatization efforts at the UC not only hurt UC workers but erode standards across the state. As
the state’s third largest employer, the UC can and must do better for us and our families. Instead,
as detailed in six new Unfair Labor Practice charges filed with the State, UC’s relentless drive to
contract out work has demonstrated that it is unwilling to abide by state law, negotiated
agreements or even its own internal policies. In fact, the Public Employees Relations Board just
issued a Complaint against UC for violating state law by outsourcing our members’ work without
providing notice or bargaining first.

Despite UC’s illegal practices to scare AFSCME members and weaken us—including allowing
violence against members and union staff at picket lines and campaigning to get members to quit
the union—we are resilient and continue to stand strong. We have gone on strike five times in
the past two years over UC’s unfair labor practices and contract demands, and we are ready to do
whatever it takes to hold UC accountable to the law and to secure a better future for ourselves
and our families.
We agree with the statement you made last spring when you joined our picket line and said, “The
University of California is one of the great university systems in the world, but it is not good
enough to be a great university. The University of California...must be

 an employer that respects its workers. It must be an employer that treats its workers with dignity and it
must sit down with its union and negotiate in good faith.”1

Until that day comes, we need your support. Please join Kamala Harris, Julian Castro, Stacy Abrams, Jennifer
Siebel Newsom and the many other leaders who have stood in solidarity with us throughout this struggle—
by refusing to attend or speak at any UC events until the University addresses these issues and settles a fair
contract with the workers who make it run.
Please join us and endorse this boycott until the University of California commits to addressing our
priorities and bargains in good faith with AFSCME 3299. If you have any questions, contact Julie Waters at
(510) 409-9921 or at jwaters@afscme3299.org.
Sincerely,

Kathryn Lybarger
President, AFSCME 3299
President, California Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO

1

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/21/decrying-war-being-waged-against-working-people-sanders-joins-strikingunion-members

 AFSCME Local 3299 Members’ Contract Issues Fact Sheet
Racial & Economic Equality

A recent study of UC’s own employment and wage data revealed growing income inequality, persistent patterns of
racial and gender hierarchy, and steep declines in African American employment within the UC career workforce. 2

While the ratio between average salaries for UC’s top 1% of wage earners and all other employees grew from 7:1 to
9:1, the average starting pay for women and people of color in AFSCME-represented titles are as much as 21
percent less than whites and men. Additionally, the share of African Americans employed directly by UC as service
and patient care workers dropped by 37 percent between 1996 and 2015. 3

The University has refused to consider AFSCME’s proposals for ban the box, local hire, and fair chance employment
language that would begin to reverse the trend in declining black workers at the UC by protecting public sector jobs
that have historically served as a pathway into the middle class for disadvantaged communities.
Moreover, the UC wants to continue to outsource more of the career public service jobs performed by our members
to private contractors that pay as much as 53% less, while demanding that AFSCME members accept a wage and
benefits package that would mean a net cut in take-home pay every year. Imposing such a devastating cut on
AFSCME 3299 members would not only push us further into poverty but also exacerbate the growing racialized
economic disparity at the UC.
Eroding Workers’ Rights

A recent state audit of UC's contracting processes showed that the UC is using contractors to avoid directly
employing UC service workers.4 In the past several years, these contracted-out UC workers across the state have
come forward to expose rampant labor abuses among staffing agencies hired by the UC. These workers are
overwhelmingly people of color and immigrants. They are uninsured, underpaid and endure wage theft, abuse, and
unsafe working conditions. AFSCME 3299 is demanding an end to outsourcing. As a public institution that receives
almost $4 billion in taxpayer dollars, UC needs to be held directly accountable to the people who work for the
University’s benefit. UC has refused.
Immigrant Rights

Immigrant communities are under attack across the U.S. While California lawmakers have stepped up to affirm
California values by passing important sanctuary protections, the UC has refused the Union’s request that the
University affirm these protections through contractual language.
Fighting Sexual Harassment

A 2015 study by UC Berkeley’s own Investigative Reporting Program5 revealed how common sexual assault is
among workers in the job categories that AFSCME 3299 represents. We are calling on UC to ensure safer work
environments through more robust grievance procedures for sexual harassment. UC has refused to respond to these
demands.

“Pioneering Inequality; Race, Gender and Income Disparities at the University of California,” AFSCME Local 3299, April 2018.
Ibid
4
https://www.auditor.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2016-125.1.pdf
5
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/rape-on-the-night-shift
2
3