United Auto Workers Local 2865 filed an unfair labor practice charge Monday alleging that the UC system violated its labor contract by making a decision to only hire UC Berkeley graduate students residing in the United States for the upcoming fall semester.
The union represents the university’s graduate student instructors, readers and tutors and was not given a meeting to discuss UC Berkeley’s latest alleged decision. The controversy started when the campus physics department sent an email at the end of June stating that, as of the date the email was sent, international students who are not physically in the United States will not be able to serve as GSIs. The email included a location survey for students to fill out.