Written by via uaw5810.org
With 75% turnout and 88% voting in favor, nearly 6,000 California state scientists have chosen to affiliate their union (CAPS – California Association of Professional Scientists) with the UAW! These workers have been fighting for a contract for 3 years, and in 2023, they went on California’s first-ever state employees’ strike. Now they have chosen to affiliate with UAW to build more power in the workplace and at the bargaining table.
CAPS’ elected Board of Directors voted unanimously to recommend affiliation with UAW on February 24, and held dozens of town hall-style meetings and workplace discussions with members up and down the state. The membership of CAPS is the highest authority, and their decision has ratified affiliation.
CAPS members work in more than 50 departments across California’s government. They perform air, water and soil testing, engineer new earthquake warning systems, are on the front lines of fighting climate change, and more. Many of these workers began their research careers as UAW members at UC and will now be UAW members for their whole careers, with the ability to fight alongside members of UAW 4811 for better working conditions and more justice in California. This represents another huge step in UAW workers’ fight to win fair and equitable working conditions for researchers (and all workers) here in California and across the country.
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