University of California intends to claw back pay from 48,000 workers who went on strike

THE RAISES UNIVERSITY of California graduate student workers won after last year’s historic work stoppage come with a big caveat: Those same UC workers will have to repay all the money they earned while they were on strike.

The UC “may not legally pay our employees or gift them funds if they did not provide a service to the institution,” wrote Ryan King, a spokesperson for The University of California Office of the President, in an email to CalMatters. He cited state and federal rules that forbid the university from paying employees who didn’t work.

The UC system signaled this move was imminent in comments to CalMatters the first week of January.