2,100 UC tech workers launch the largest tech organizing drive in U.S. history
More than 2,100 tech workers at the University of California have built majority support to join University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE), and we’ve petitioned the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to certify our union. Together, these workers have launched the largest tech organizing drive in United States history—a milestone for California’s public university system, the labor movement, and the future of how technology serves the public.
The titles joining UPTE include:
Application Programmers 1–3
Business Systems Analysts 1–3
Data Systems Analysts 1–2
Database Administrators 1–2
Information Systems Analysts 1–3
Instructional Designers 1–5
These workers keep California’s public university running. They build and maintain the digital infrastructure behind patient care at UC’s medical centers, power the research systems scientists across the state rely on, and design the learning tools that serve hundreds of thousands of students. When they win a real voice on the job, the institutions they support serve everyone better: patients, students, researchers, and the communities UC touches every day.
A national model for public-sector tech workers
UPTE’s tech union now sets a powerful example for roughly 480,000 computer and mathematical employees working for public institutions across the country, including 200,000 IT workers at public universities. The campaign shows that IT workers can mobilize to make sure machines serve human beings, both the employees who operate the technology and the wider public.
That fight increasingly centers on artificial intelligence. UPTE members will gain the formal right to bargain collectively over working conditions, including how UC deploys AI tools. The vote arrives as private tech employers have cut thousands of jobs nationally, blaming AI automation to justify workforce reductions.
“Millions of Californians rely on the University of California for their healthcare and education,” said Max Belasco, Business Systems Analyst at UCLA. “Until now, we haven’t had the opportunity, as the people who understand AI to say: we want a seat at the table. If the workers who provide these critical services to the people of California don’t have the power to demand transparency and advocate for the safe deployment of AI tools, there will be no safeguards in place to ensure AI will be used as anything more than a poor cost saving measure. Unionized healthcare workers have set new quality standards across UC hospitals that save lives—tech workers can play the same role when it comes to AI.”
The workers closest to the technology, and not outside consultants, should shape how UC adopts it.
“We know when you try to make quick, dirty decisions to cut labor through AI, you're actually creating a more vulnerable system,” said Dan Russell, UC Berkeley Business Technology Support Analyst and president of UPTE. “On paper, AI can make us more 'productive' at our jobs, but the people making those recommendations to UC are management consultants who don't have the knowledge or expertise we have as workers. With the right to bargain over our working conditions, we can set the right tone not just for our workplace and tech organizations, but also for the millions of Californians who turn to UC everyday for critical research, healthcare, and educational opportunities.”
Our fight continues
This victory advances a broader fight to defend and expand public healthcare, research, and education in California. Strong unions retain experienced staff, cut turnover, and hold management accountable at an institution that belongs to the public.
