"UCSC: More on Arrested Strike Picketers & Today's Actions"
2014-04-03 by Steven Argue of the Revolutionary Tendency:
Nineteen UCSC Strike Picketers Arrested!
Union Leader Tackled and Arrested Without Cause!
Call 831-459-3885 to Demand: Drop The Charges Now!
Come support the strike at the UCSC gate April 3rd, starting at 5:30 AM. Rally at 10 AM.
Rally and pickets will be at Base of UCSC Campus, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz, California 95064
Victory To the Striking Workers of UAW 2865!
UC cops arrested 19 strike picketers on April 2nd, charging them with "blocking an entrance to a university", "disobeying an order from an officer", "failing to disperse", and "resisting arrest". "Resisting arrest" is a routine police charge slapped on victims of police brutality. The labor movement must defend the right to erect non-porous picket lines!
Union representatives describe what happened:
"The administration strategically chose to escalate our peaceful, lawful picket. Riot police were imported from UC Berkeley prior to the demonstrations. The Berkeley police are known for their willingness to physically assault both students and faculty at peaceful demonstrations. Wearing riot helmets and batons, and resting their hands on their weapons, police used conflicting messages to create confusion about what demonstrators could do to avoid arrest. First, police blocked both entrances to the crosswalk; then they said we could be in the crosswalk only when the “walk” sign was on, and then proceed to shut it off. Some officers then said that we couldn’t picket on the sidewalk or grass near the west entrance even after people had moved off of the street. The details of where people could be were not clear in any dispersal order. This mixed messaging was clearly part of a tactic to stop legal, peaceful picket by instilling fear among demonstrators that they might be arrested at any time merely by being in the vicinity of the protest.
"The administration deprived UAW members of our legal right to picket. Shortly after union members and undergraduate allies gathered at the western entrance, they were confronted by riot police. A union leader was specifically targeted after communicating to administrators that the picket was about to begin. He introduced himself to Executive Vice Chancellor Alison Galloway, and informed her that he was going to be exercising his right to picket, but that he would not be standing in front of cars or blocking traffic. Shortly after this encounter, he was tackled to the ground by police and arrested, along with a photographer who was documenting the incident. He had clearly stated that he was not going to block any cars, and he would be walking in the crosswalk. We have video footage of this arrest. You can watch clips of it here: http://www.uaw2865.org/update-videos-of-police-aggression/ Riot cops then proceeded to arrest 18 more students and union members."
Call Executive Vice Chancellor Alison Galloway to demand that UCSC drop all of the charges against the students. Her number is 831-459-3885. They also have a court date set for May 6 at 8:15 AM.
The striking workers are organized in the United Auto Workers (UAW 2865). The local organizes University of California teachers assistants, tutors, and readers. The workers are striking for two days on April 2-3. The strike is, in part, against budget cuts and expectations to teach ever-larger classes. This is hurting both teachers and students.
Striking worker Brian Malone further explains, “We’re striking statewide because of patterns of intimidation, threatening with arrests, threatening international students with the loss of their visa and threatening our members with firing.”
"Twenty UCSC Strike Picketers Arrested! Drop The Charges Now!"
2014-04-02 by-Steven Argue of the Revolutionary Tendency:
Come support the strike tomorrow at the UCSC gate, 7:00 AM
UC cops arrested 20 strike picketers today arresting them and charging them with "blocking an entrance to a university", "disobeying an order from an officer", "failing to disperse", and "resisting arrest". "Resisting arrest" is a routine police charge slapped on victims of police brutality. The labor movement must defend the right to erect non-porous picket lines! UCSC Drop the charges Now!
The striking workers are organized in the United Auto Workers (UAW 2865). The local organizes University of California teachers assistants, tutors, and readers. The workers are striking for two days on April 2-3. The strike is, in part, against budget cuts and expectations to teach ever-larger classes. This is hurting both teachers and students.
Striking worker Brian Malone further explains, “We’re striking statewide because of patterns of intimidation, threatening with arrests, threatening international students with the loss of their visa and threatening our members with firing.”
Victory To the Striking Workers of UAW 2865!
Come support the strike tomorrow (April 3rd) at the UCSC gate, 7:00 AM
"We hope UCD’s response to striking students more appropriate than UCSC’s this morning"
2014-04-02 from "Davis Faculty Association" [http://ucdfa.org/2014/04/we-hope-ucds-response-to-striking-students-more-appropriate-than-ucscs-this-morning/]:
The DFA board sent to following note to Chancellor Katehi earlier today:
Dear Chancellor Katehi,
This morning riot police were deployed at UC Santa Cruz in response to the student strike. The DFA would like to express its hope that UC Davis has more moderate and appropriate plans to address the concerns of its graduate students.
Best Regards,
[signed] Davis Faculty Association Board
"13,000 UC STUDENT-WORKERS ANNOUNCE A TWO-DAY STATEWIDE STRIKE OVER UC’s INTIMIDATION OF WORKERS"
2014-03-27 from UC Student- Workers Union – UAW Local 2865 [http://www.uaw2865.org/strike-press-release/]:
* “If You Strike, You Will Not Work in This Program Again”
* Student-Workers Union Charges UCs with Pattern of Unfair Labor Practices
On February 23, 2014, the Director of the Writing Program at UCSC, told a group of union members in his employ, “If you strike, you will not work in this program again.” UAW 2865 then filed the most recent in a series of Unfair Labor Practice Charges (ULPs) focused on retaliation for protected union activity. From threats to international student’s visa status who participate in union activity, to unlawful videoing, and calling legal strikes illegal, the UCs are taking every opportunitiy to try and intimidate its members. In response, the 12,000 front line educators in the UCs represented by the UC Student-Worker Union UAW 2865 filed multiple ULPs and will now be striking from April 2-3.
Over the past several months, the UCs have developed a pattern of intimidation and threats to UAW members. For instance, in the days preceding a November 20, 2013, UCLA management illegally warned international student workers that striking could mean the loss of their work visas. At UC Berkeley, Vice Chancellor Breslauer told deans the strike was illegal and asked that they tell workers “they must meet their scheduled teaching responsibilities.” The UC did not ask the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to rule that the strike was illegal, therefore UAW 2865 filed a charge with PERB over these incidents and is awaiting a preliminary ruling.
On October 29, UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz police filmed union members striking. Labor law is very clear: it is unlawful for employers to film protected activities undertaken by employees. UAW 2865 filed ULP charges and PERB issued an initial ruling supporting the claim of an unfair labor practice.
Finally, in the week preceding a potential strike at UC Santa Cruz which was later called off, the director of the Writing Program threatened UAW members, telling them they would not work again in his department if they participated in the upcoming strike. This threat was especially severe because the Writing Program’s hiring is left almost entirely in the director’s hands. He leads a course in which students learn pedagogy and apply for work at the same time, a class which has been the subject of previous complaints regarding the lack of transparency in its process. This is the subject of a ULP in process.
Taken together, this pattern of Unfair Labor Practices has angered UAW members and inspired a strike call. For this two day strike, certain campuses (UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz) will be striking on the first day (Apr. 2) over unfair labor practices that particularly impact members on their campuses. On day two of the strike (Apr. 3), members will join together from all campuses to protest numerous Unfair Labor Practices.
The Council of UC Faculty Associations statement on UAW negotiations and strike
2014-03-31 [http://cucfa.org/news/2014_march31.php]:
Dear Colleagues,
The Council of UC Faculty Associations supports the demands made by the graduate student union (UAW 2865) in its negotiations for a new contract and support the union’s right to strike on April 2 and 3 if they find it needed to bring negotiations to a speedy and respectful conclusion. We encourage you to read the letter below, written by the graduate student union, which describes the issues and what faculty can do to support the graduate students in their negotiations for better wages and working conditions.
Graduate student instructors are essential to the educational mission of the University of California. Currently, UC graduate student workers are underpaid and have higher workloads than at comparable research universities, as shown by a UCOP study of TA compensation [http://www.ucop.edu/student-affairs/_files/gradsurvey_2010.pdf] Ensuring that graduate instructor-led classes are kept at a manageable and consistent size ensures not only equitable treatment for graduate students, but a high quality undergraduate learning experience across the University of California.
We urge UCOP to engage in good faith bargaining with UAW and to address the issues over class size, workload, and salary issues.
What is good for graduate students is also good for faculty and for undergraduates.
Sincerely,
[signed] The Board of the Council of UC Faculty Associations
---
Dear Members of the Faculty,
After filing a number of Unfair Labor Practice charges against UC management, UC Student-Workers at UC Santa Cruz, represented by UAW 2865, are planning to go on strike from Wednesday, April 2nd, through Thursday, April 3rd. Members of the union--at both UCSC and on other UC campuses--will be striking over management’s refusal to negotiate over mandatory topics of bargaining, and over the unlawful intimidation of student workers.
In the current round of contract negotiations, management has repeatedly mis-characterized issues such as TA/student ratios and non-discrimination protections as permissive bargaining subjects (i.e., issues which can be negotiated but for which management is not obligated to negotiate) in order to avoid bargaining responsibility. These issues directly affect working conditions, and management is in violation of labor law by not treating them as mandatory subjects of bargaining. In December, UC management’s lead negotiator asserted that the issue of TA/student ratios was not a mandatory subject of bargaining, and that she had no interest in negotiating over this issue. Labor law is clear: the ratio of students to teachers (like the ratio of patients to nurses) shapes employees’ workload, and is a mandatory subject of bargaining. At the same bargaining session, management insisted that the 18 quarter rule (which bars graduate students from receiving more than 18 quarters of teaching assignments) was merely a permissive subject of bargaining. But again, labor law is clear: management must negotiate over the terms of employment, including terms, such as the 18 quarter rule, that affect workers’ eligibility for rehire or that limit the duration of their eligibility for employment.
Recently, management has partially reversed their position and started conversations about TA/student ratios. However, substantive movement is yet to be seen, and the ULP remains unresolved.
Last fall, on a number of occasions, representatives of UC management unlawfully interfered with graduate student workers’ rights to take collective action. On October 29, approximately 50 student workers at UC Berkeley gathered to deliver a letter to Graduate Dean Szeri about their living and working conditions. When those assembled arrived at the Dean’s office, they were met with a locked door and a handful of police officers, who soon began filming those who gathered quietly outside of the Dean’s office. Labor law is very clear: it is unlawful for police officers working for employers to film protected activities undertaken by employees, such as delivering a letter. When police officers film employees, this has a chilling effect on the political activities of those filmed, who may fear retaliation on the job. The UC Student-Workers Union filed an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charge with the Public Employee Relations Board about this incident and PERB issued an initial ruling stating that management’s alleged acts do constitute an unfair labor practice.
On November 20, UC student workers engaged in a one-day solidarity strike with service and health care workers represented by AFSCME 3299, who were striking to protest unlawful intimidation tactics enacted last spring by UC managers. In the days preceding the strike, management representatives sent misleading and intimidating emails to student workers in an attempt to discourage them from engaging in this protected collective action at a number of campuses. Management stated that the strike was unlawful, that student workers were responsible for avoiding “disruption” of classes, and that students’ employment or work visas could be forfeit if they were involved in the strike.
Finally, in the week preceding the planned AFSCME and UAW strike of the week of March 2, 2014, an administrator at UCSC threatened our members with retaliation if they participated in the upcoming strike activities. This is obviously illegal and the basis for a ULP that we have filed with PERB.
The strike will be all day from April 2nd through April 3rd. UAW members will not be performing their TA duties on Wednesday or Thursday. The right of UAW members to participate in this strike without interference or retaliation is legally protected.
We invite all faculty and instructors to be in solidarity with us for the duration of the strike. Specifically, we are asking that you
--Inform your students about the strike.
--Respect our picket line for the entire two days by canceling class.
--Do not penalize undergraduate students if they choose not to cross our picket line on those days. Students should not be dropped from the course roster if they do not attend class on those days because of the picket line or campus access difficulties.
--Pressure the UC Administration to stop intimidation of student workers.
We hope you will support us as we fight to protect the rights of our workers.
In solidarity, [signed] UAW Organizing Committee
"The Berkeley Faculty Association supports the UAW’s campaign for better wages and working conditions for graduate students"
2014-03-19 [http://ucbfa.org/2014/03/bfa-supports-uaw-better-pay-and-working-conditions-for-graduate-students/]:
As UCOP’s own figures show, our graduate students are underpaid in comparison to our peer institutions by as much as $5,000 [http://www.ucop.edu/student-affairs/_files/gradsurvey_2010.pdf]. Given the high cost of living in the Bay Area, many struggle to live on their current ten-month stipend of $17,655. As a letter from 33 of Berkeley’s Department Chairs argued, the lack of an adequate stipend also undermines the competitiveness of even our top-ranked graduate programs [https://web.archive.org/web/20131115171008/http://toodumbtolivearchive.blogspot.com/2013/11/berkeley-chairs-letter-in-support-of.html].
Graduate student instructors are central to the UC mission to provide top-quality, research-driven, undergraduate education to Californians. Ensuring that graduate instructor-led classes are kept at a manageable and consistent size ensures not only equitable treatment for graduate students, but a high quality undergraduate learning experience across the University of California.
Given the expiration of the previous contract last November, we urge UCOP to quickly resolve their outstanding differences with UAW and to respect the protected rights of union workers to take collective actions free of undue managerial interference.
The BFA recognizes that graduate students are the lifeblood of the University of California’s mission to deliver excellence in research and teaching. We support the UAW’s campaign for a new deal for our graduate students. What is good for graduate students is also good for faculty and for undergraduates.
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