Academic workers at UC Santa Cruz are set to begin a strike Monday that could cripple instruction and other university operations, alleging their free speech rights were violated during protests and demanding officials negotiate with pro-Palestinian demonstrators, stop what they say are actions hostile toward nonviolent activists and grant amnesty to those facing disciplinary action related to the unrest.
The strike at UC Santa Cruz is the first of a potential series of rolling labor actions that could move across campuses in the University of California system. The strike is based on the union’s claim that the UC response to campus protests has amounted to unfair labor practices.
University officials characterize the job action as illegal because the academic workers have a valid contract with a no-strike clause.
United Auto Workers Local 4811 represents 48,000 graduate student teaching assistants, tutors, researchers and other academic workers, the largest union in the 10-campus system.
The strike authorization, with support from 79% of those union members who cast ballots, called for university officials to “commit to de-escalation and negotiate in good faith with protesters over their urgent moral concerns.”
The union has cited the violent mob attack on a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA and subsequent arrests of union members when police moved in to clear the camp, calling the actions “an assault on our fundamental right to free expression.” At UC Irvine last week, police arrested 47 protesters allegedly involved in taking over a building.
In broader terms, pro-Palestinian protesters have demanded, among other things, that universities divest from Israel and weapons companies.
Over the weekend, the UAW 4811 Instagram page forecast potential next targets.
“UCLA next” said one post with an eyeball emoji, while other posts suggested UC Davis, UC Irvine and UC San Diego could be called into the rolling strike.
The union has not formally called for strikes at those campuses.
However, there could be independent action by union members that is not authorized by the union. Some members and pro-Palestinian campus groups have said they will go on strike or protest in support of academic workers in Santa Cruz.
On Instagram, an “Academics for Justice in Palestine” group at UC Santa Barbara posted that its followers should walk out at 11:30 a.m. Monday: “We walkout in solidarity with our union siblings at UC Santa Cruz who stand up and strike today for free speech, workplace safety and academic freedom! Get ready UCSB… We are ready to strike!”
UC leaders filed their own state unfair labor practice charge against the union Friday, which called on the labor board to order student workers to “cease and desist” the walkout.
“This strike directly violates the [collective bargaining agreement’s] no strike clauses, and has no relation to UAW members’ employment with the university. Instead, as the UAW and its members’ communications make clear, UAW strikes to support protest activity surrounding the conflict in the Middle East,” UC said in its filing with the state’s labor board.
In a letter sent to graduate student workers on Wednesday, UC officials warned students against striking.
“Participating in the strike does not change, excuse, or modify, an employee’s normal work duties or expectations. And, unlike a protected strike, you could be subject to corrective action for failing to perform your duties,” the unsigned letter from the UC office of the president said.
Workers ratified their current contract in late 2022, winning significant pay increases and benefit improvements.
The union argues that the strike is within its legal rights because it’s connected to an unfair labor practice charge workers filed in early May with the state’s labor board.
J. Felix De La Torre, general counsel for the labor board, said that a decision on the cease-and-desist order sought by the university could come early this week. He added that the labor board has also offered a mediator in an effort to help resolve the dispute.
For two weeks, students at UC Santa Cruz, including unionized graduate students, have maintained a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus in support of divestment from Israel. The strike comes as protesters and the university administration have indicated that they’ve reached a standstill. Protest leaders said Thursday that they were “under imminent threat of police sweep” after they said the university gave them formal notice to “cease all camping activities on university property.”
Santa Cruz is a smaller UC campus of 19,764 students, with nearly 2,000 in graduate school. In 2020, the university fired dozens of grad students from their teaching assistant positions after strikes there. At least 17 arrests were made during a related student-led demonstration.
Rafael Jaime, United Auto Workers Local 4811 co-president and a doctoral candidate in UCLA’s English department, said that to resolve the strike the union needs “to see a real commitment from the university to respect our rights to free speech and peaceful protest on campus.”
A first step would be for administrators to reconsider discipline and suspension notices that have been sent to some student workers involved in the protests, he said.
Speaking before the strike decision, Jaime said a strike would mean “all academic work would cease, including research, teaching and grading.”
Student workers will receive $500 weekly in strike pay, or about 33% less than the average teaching assistant makes for a 20-hour work week, he said.
