In 1984, AGSE ally California state assemblymember Tom Bates introduced Assembly Bill 3251 into that year's session, which would have extended collective bargaining rights to graduate student employees, who were classified as apprentices rather than workers.

[2] In 1987, AGSE affiliated with the UAW, however Teaching Assistants would not be recognized as employees by the state of California until 1999, following a series of high participation strikes the year prior.

The 5810 represented postdoctoral scholar and academic researcher units reached tentative agreements with the university on November 29, which were ratified by membership vote on December 9.

[10] The UAW International Executive Board approved the amalgamation in late February 2024, officially combining the two unions into one comprising 48,000 workers and numerated Local 4811.

After the violent attack by non-campus individuals on pro-Palestine student protestors at UCLA and the subsequent police crackdown on May 1 and 2, 2024, UAW Local 4811 issued a statement announcing that it would hold a strike authorization vote in the following week.