The faculty hiring freeze UC San Diego imposed last week to deal with a campus financial crisis and federal funding uncertainty has been expanded to include staff employees — including those who work in the school’s huge hospital and health care system and medical school.

Twenty thousand University of California healthcare, research, and technical professionals, represented by the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE), will

Roughly 37,000 UC service and patient care workers represented by AFSCME Local 3299 will take part in a two-day strike that started Wednesday at 7 a.m. with picketing anticipated at all 10 UC campuses and at UC medical facilities statewide.