UC-Berkeley student campaign for permanent jobs for contract workers, 2015-2016

The Student Labor Committee at University of California, Berkeley organized a "#Justice4UCWorkers" campaign in the 2015-2016 school year. The campaign had support and participation from contract workers and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, a union representing UC workers. Targeting Chancellor Nicholas Dirk, they demanded the university hire, as permanent employees, nearly 100 campus workers employed by private contractors who had been recently hired. They also called for better working conditions and wages. Student leaders recognized this as a labor issue, as the university was increasingly hiring low-wage subcontracted workers and influenced statewide labor practices as the state's third-largest employer, and also a racial issue, given that the majority of contract workers were people of color from the Bay Area. The campaign involved at least 13 protests, including an occupation of central administration offices, sit-ins, rallies, and a symbolic action where students wore large signs at a gallery opening with testimonies from campus contract workers of their mistreatment. Following AFSCME's threat of a "speakers boycott" in spring 2016, the campaign won its top demand. The university agreed to hire the almost 100 subcontracted custodians, parking attendants, and limited workers.