On Wednesday, Feb. 13, over 100 faculty, students and staff gathered on the sidewalk to protest proposed increases to the UC Student Health Insurance Plan (UC SHIP), an insurance program provided for the faculty, students and staff of University of California.

Debate racked the first statewide TA union meeting under newly elected officials. One member was voted out of office at the meeting, raising questions of election committee member bias.

The Academic Workers for Democratic Union (AWDU) won all 10 positions in a recent election of the United Auto Workers Local 2865 (UAW) union, which represents a significant change within the structure of the organization.

UC teaching assistant union UAW Local 2865 held state- and campus-wide triennial elections last week. The ballot counting hit an unexpected stalemate and UCLA and UC Berkeley’s ballots could swing the vote to the UC Santa Cruz candidate’s favor.

Reformers of the UC academic workers’ union representing filled most remaining seats in an uncontested election. Calling themselves AWDU, the dissenting caucus within the union plans on increasing the group’s influence. Other members worry about creating conflict within the union.

Disagreements in the recently ratified UAW contract caused division within the union members. The dissenting group felt the contract agreement was inadequate, but many from other campuses felt they were lucky to get the benefits.