Petition

Dear Vice Chancellor Reem Hanna-Harwell, 

We, the undersigned staff, students, and community members of the University of California, express our strong support for IT workers represented by the University Professional and Technical Employees CWA Local 9119 (UPTE CWA 9119) who were recently laid off in the Digital Technology Solutions (DTS) department. We call on the leadership at UCLA to reinstate workers who were suddenly laid off on June 30, 2026.

The DTS department provides essential technology services that support teaching, learning, research, and campus operations. Its staff manages physical and virtual classrooms, specialized learning environments, instructional technologies, and the technical infrastructure that students, faculty, and staff rely on every day. 

The recent decision to eliminate 27 positions, including 10 represented by UPTE-CWA 9119, threatens the department's ability to provide reliable technology support and streamline operations.

These layoffs will have real consequences for students and faculty, including potential delays in classroom technology support, longer response times for technical issues, disruptions to instructional services, and reduced access to the resources that help students succeed, including the operation of more than 150 classroom computers and technologies that dozens of faculty rely upon so they can focus on teaching. These decisions affecting classroom technology are being made without consultation of the faculty who rely on these resources. The reported removal of computers from classrooms without prior notice to instructors will disrupt teaching, reducing instructional flexibility, and create unnecessary challenges for faculty and students alike.

The layoffs also also impact student residential life as some of these staff supported event and dining spaces in Housing & Hospitality. The affected employees provide specialized expertise in business analysis, technology implementation, systems support, and cross-functional collaboration that enable UCLA to maintain and improve the digital services relied upon by the campus community.

We are also deeply concerned about UCLA’s failure to adhere to all layoff provisions of our union contract.

Affected employees were not offered vacant positions for which they met the minimum qualifications, newly created positions were not properly considered, and seniority rights not honored in some cases. These concerns raise questions about the university's compliance with its contractual obligations and its commitment to respecting workers' rights.

Leadership needs to invest in the highly skilled professionals who design, secure, operate, and improve the university's enterprise technology and data ecosystem. Preserving this expertise is essential to supporting student success, advancing research, protecting university operations, and enabling informed decision-making across the institution.  

UCLA has a responsibility to uphold its contractual commitments while ensuring students receive the quality support they deserve. Restoring these positions is essential to maintaining reliable technology services, preserving institutional knowledge, and demonstrating respect for both the campus community and the workers who make these services possible.

We urge UCLA leadership to immediately reinstate the affected workers and ensure that every aspect of the contract is honored without delay.