On Sept. 16, Teamsters Local 2010, a union that represents over 24,000 administrative and skilled trades workers at the University of California (UC), California State University (CSU) and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) joined together with 20 other UC unions to form the UC union coalition to file a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration. According to the Teamsters Local 2010 press release, they are filing the lawsuit for “challenging the illegal and coercive use of frivolous lawsuits to attack the University of California system and threaten the jobs and rights of Teamsters members and other UC workers and students.”
This joint decision came after months of turmoil and discussion between the unions. As a consequence of the Trump administration’s crackdown, many public universities like UCs have taken a hit; however, as the state’s second-largest employer, with over 10 campuses, the effects of the administration’s actions on the University of California would have a direct impact on the state.
Currently, the UCs are awarded $17 billion every year in financial support from the federal government: $9.9 billion is for Medicare and medicaid funding, $5.5 billion in research and program support and $1.7 billion in student aid. The Trump administration has proposed withdrawing $1.2 billion of that funding from the university, directly threatening the jobs, education, and livelihood of faculty, staff and students who rely upon federal funding.
Beyond this, a key component behind the coalition’s proposal of the lawsuit is based on the recognition that the Trump administration’s attack on UC students, faculty and staff has not been solely economic. After UC Berkeley’s decision last month to share the names of over 160 alleged pro-Palestinian students, faculty and staff (including Teamster members) with the Trump administration, they argued that it is an attack on the rights of workers and students. Beyond that of free speech, the administration aims to control the narrative in and outside the classroom as CUCFA President Annie McClanahan said in an article for Democracy Forward, “This isn’t about antisemitism, it’s about banning gender-affirming care at UC hospitals, firing tenured faculty, exerting federal control over the content of UC teaching and research and the permanent loss of jobs for many contingent faculty and staff.”
The antisemitic executive order McClanahan was referring to was one of the many executive orders passed by the Trump administration to create significant changes to federal policy affecting education. In addition to the first executive order 13899, on combating anti-semitism, “finding that students in particular faced anti-semitic harassment in schools, universities, and college campuses” and on Jan. 29, Trump issued another executive order that entailed “forceful and unprecedented steps to marshal all federal resources to combat the explosion of anti-Semitism on our campuses and in our streets since Oct. 7, 2023.”
Trump has utilized this executive order to target pro-Palestine encampments and rhetoric on campus. As Dima Khalidi, the Palestine legal director, states in an article for Palestine Legal, “This order is the latest in a growing list of dangerous, authoritarian measures aimed at enforcing an ideological strangulation on schools by attempting to scare students into silence about Israel’s genocide in Gaza with threats of prosecution and deportation.” Members of the coalition of UC unions agree that it’s bigger than antisemitism and a threat to democracy and the integrity of colleges and universities.
Although this was a large mobilizing factor for the coalition of the UC unions, a major component of the decision to file a formal lawsuit against the Trump administration at this time was the demand letter sent to the UC system on Aug. 8, demanding that “the UC system cede control to the federal government and to a government-appointed monitor,” said democracy forward. This monitor would ensure that initiatives, such as the elimination of DEI, are implemented through Executive Order 14151 “The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), assisted by the Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), shall coordinate the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear,” as stated by the White House. Beyond DEI, this letter insists that they adopt restrictions on protests, free speech and the disclosure of student records and end gender inclusive policies in healthcare.
Although not as heavily reliant on federal funding as the UCs, private institutions like USF could still be subject to pressure by the federal government to comply with newly formed policies around education. As with Harvard, the Trump administration froze over $2 billion in research grants and threatened to block international student enrollment in an attempt to cite the university for violations of Title IV of the Civil Rights Act, and claimed that Harvard inadequately addressed antisemitism measures on campus. Harvard filed two lawsuits against the administration’s actions, to which a judge ruled the counts were unlawful and in favor of Harvard.
Related to the group’s actions, APUP President Todd Wolfson of the Coalition of UC Unions said, “In this historic lawsuit, faculty, students, and staff walk together to fight the authoritarian takeover of our universities. We stand hand in hand to protect not only our individual rights to free expression, debate, and association, but also to safeguard the health, safety, and economic mobility of our communities – all of which are at risk.”
