Before Los Angeles’ “hot labor summer” came USC’s hot labor year.
Since last spring, University workers have organized, union by union, in a reckoning of labor strength and action that’s mirrored movements across the city and country like the ongoing screenwriters and actors strike.
USC is L.A.’s largest private employer, contracting some 30,000 faculty and staff who have felt the impacts of L.A.’s rising cost of living. The Consumer Price Index for the L.A. area, a measure of inflation and price changes, skyrocketed in early 2021 and peaked at a nearly 9% over-the-year increase last June. This June’s CPI stood at a 2.5% increase over the same month last year.
Home prices and rents are inching up and out of reach for many working-class Angelenos, and wages haven’t kept up consistently. Service employees at USC made an average salary of $46,813 in 2022, according to the statistics site UnivStats. A two-bedroom apartment in L.A. goes for a median rent of $2,525, according to real estate site Zillow. That’s 61% higher than the national average and a total of about $30,000 yearly.
That gap between what workers earn and what they’re paying for housing, food and gas has stirred frustration and desperation among Angelenos — who are now willing to take to the picket line or the union ballot box.
The Daily Trojan asked President Carol Folt in a March interview what she thought USC’s historic year for labor organizing said about USC as an employer. The Daily Trojan also asked Folt whether she thought unions made the University a better place to work.
Acknowledging the movements as part of a national shift, Folt said having mediators in labor talks is a “complication” at a university, but was optimistic that USC could make it work.
“People get to make a choice. We support that,” Folt said. “But, in the end, we want to continue to make sure that we have as few middle people between us, our students and our faculty and our staff as possible.”
The following is a chronological list of labor action and organizing at USC since last spring.
Janitorial staff protested for improved wages, healthcare benefits
USC custodians and their supporters staged a protest against their employer Aramark’s alleged foot-dragging at the bargaining table in March 2022.
Aramark proposed a 30 to 45-cent yearly wage increase; many of its workers receive less than $17 per hour, one union member said, making the proposed raise a 2% to 3% increase. The janitors, represented by the Service Employees International Union, called on USC to pressure Aramark — which took over as their employer after the University laid off janitorial staff 26 years ago — to offer a fair wage increase.
One longtime custodial worker said that, before USC cut ties with the workers, employees received USC-specific benefits that they’d like to get back, including transportation passes, tickets to sports games and discounted or free tuition for their children.
The workers, joined by more student supporters, marched at USC again a week after their initial protest and showed their willingness to strike if Aramark didn’t budge on wage increases. The workers averted a strike.
Keck School of Medicine residents unionized, negotiated contract
KSOM-employed housestaff in the L.A. General residency program unanimously voted to unionize in May 2022, gaining the representation of the Committee of Interns and Residents/Service Employees International Union. After the vote, residents, interns and fellows began negotiating their first contract, a process that lasted about nine months before successful ratification.
Prior to the new contract, KSOM-employed residents worked the same rotating shifts in the same few hospitals within the residency program as L.A. County-employed residents, but earned an average of $10,000 less in pay and benefits. They fought in negotiations to level this disparity and achieved salaries comparable to their colleagues, along with a $10,000 annual housing allowance and six weeks of paid parental and family leave.
The housestaff and union organizers held several demonstrations to put pressure on KSOM and inform incoming L.A. General residents of the pay gap between KSOM and L.A. County-employed residents. Alongside supporters, the housestaff demonstrated at KSOM’s Match Day in March and handed out fliers at KSOM’s commencement ceremony in May.
Graduate student workers unionized, now negotiating
USC graduate student workers — some 3,400 teaching assistants, research assistants and assistant lecturers — culminated a yearlong effort to unionize in February. The union, formally known as the Graduate Student Workers Organizing Committee, joined workers at the likes of the University of California and Harvard University under the banner of the United Auto Workers.
The newly minted union has since engaged in collective bargaining with the University, reaching a minor victory in establishing the right to an “independent and impartial arbitrator” should the University violate its contract with the union: for instance, if a teaching assistant is forced to work unpaid hours.
Those graduate student workers plan to rally in support of their cause Aug. 31 during their ongoing negotiations with the University.
Shuttle drivers unionized
A coalition of the 32 shuttle workers who operate USC’s intercampus transit lines voted to unionize in March by a one-vote margin. The workers joined SEIU Local 721, the largest public-sector union in Southern California that also represents USC janitorial staff.
Prior to their vote, USC shuttle workers were some of the last remaining non-unionized transit workers in L.A.
An SEIU news release notes that its bargaining team met USC Aug. 2 for a first bargaining session, but a union spokesperson did not elaborate on the specifics of the meeting.
“Negotiations are ongoing and shuttle drivers hope to reach a strong, fair agreement with the university,” an SEIU spokesperson wrote in a statement to the Daily Trojan.
Housing workers unionized, now negotiating
USC Housing employees voted to unionize under SEIU Local 721 in June.
“There’s a growing unionization movement at USC, and we’re proud to be right in the middle of it,” wrote Angel Moreno, a general maintenance worker for USC Housing, in an SEIU press release announcing the passing of the union vote.
The workers are negotiating their first contract with the University with hopes of attaining higher pay and benefits and better working conditions. According to an Aug. 10 SEIU press release, USC informed the workers they wouldn’t receive their annual wage increase until contract negotiations are complete. SEIU attorneys sent the University a letter Aug. 4 demanding it pay out the merit increases based on employee evaluations.
