UC Tech Workers Union Wins Major Contract with Raises and Layoff Safeguards

Last May, more than two thousand information-technology employees across the University of California system voted to join the University Professional and Technical Employees union (UPTE-CWA Local 9119), creating the biggest tech-worker organizing drive in U.S. labor history. The resulting contract, ratified after a series of strikes from December 2024 to November 2025, delivers a 22 percent wage increase over three years, saves members up to $300 monthly on health-insurance premiums, and guarantees that any laid-off worker will be offered a vacant role anywhere in the UC system before termination.

Union leaders Dan Russell, a desktop-support specialist, and Max Belasco, a business-systems analyst at UCLA, explained that the campaign combined traditional organizing committees, statewide surveys and unprecedented home-visit outreach to engage remote staff. They highlighted the two-tier disparity between unionized and non-unionized tech workers and stressed that the contract’s protections counter growing anxiety about AI-driven job cuts. The union hopes the agreement will foster a more secure, innovative public-sector tech environment, contrasting with the precarious climate of private-sector Silicon Valley.