Graduate student workers are making an unusual request in their contract negotiations with the University of California: a legal fund to help them navigate visa issues.
The ask from United Auto Workers Local 4811, which represents 48,000 teaching assistants, postdocs and researchers at UC, comes amid increased scrutiny of international students by the Trump administration, which has ramped up restrictions on immigrants and foreign visitors.
“One of the things that has allowed the University of California to be a world leader in education and research is the fact that we welcome people from all over the world,” said Tanzil Chowdhury, a UC Berkeley doctoral student in materials science and engineering who chairs the committee negotiating on behalf of teaching assistants and graduate student researchers.
They’ve been negotiating with the university for months over a new contract; the current one expires Jan. 31.
Chowdhury said union members decided to make support for international student workers a priority after witnessing “a lot of attacks on international researchers” in 2025. In addition to the $750,000 legal fund, they’re asking the university to continue paying researchers who are temporarily stranded outside the U.S. due to visa issues, and reimburse them for visa-related fees.
“The University values the contributions of its international student employees and continues to engage in good faith with UAW to bargain a successor contract,” UC spokesperson Heather Hansen said in an email.
Nationwide, the Trump administration has arrested and tried to deport pro-Palestinian international students who were legally present in the U.S., required visa applicants to make their social media profiles public so the State Department can review them for “hostility” to the country, and proposed limiting students’ visa terms to four years.
The union demand for support for international employees is unusual but not unprecedented in higher education labor negotiations.
Johns Hopkins University signed a contract with its teaching assistants in 2024 that gives international employees up to two weeks’ paid time off if they need to leave the country to renew their visas. The university also set up an international employee fund to which workers can apply for help covering visa fees.
The University of California also spends about $3 million per year on legal services for immigrant students through its Immigrant Legal Services Center.
Union members and the university have already tentatively agreed that administrators won’t disclose an employee’s immigration status without their permission unless they’ve received a warrant or subpoena, and that the university will notify the union if federal immigration agents are on campus.
Mello writes for Berkeleyside, which has a partnership with the Associated Press.
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