On Tuesday at Westwood campus
A rolling strike by unionized academic workers upset about the University of California's response to pro-Palestinian protests at various campuses came to UCLA this week as part of the second wave of union walkouts.
Workers represented by United Auto Workers Local 4811 had already been striking at UC Santa Cruz in what the union called the first wave of planned walkouts. The second round of strikes began Tuesday at UCLA and UC Davis.
Early Tuesday morning, a small group of workers walked a picket line on the UCLA campus, and dozens more joined by midday, when they marched through the campus and held a rally near the large Bruin statue.
Caroline Luce, an academic administrator and historian who chairs the communications committee of the University Council-American Federation of Teachers at UCLA, told the crowd the university “has failed us.''
“Instead of protecting our rights to free speech and assembly, Chancellor (Gene) Block's administration has actively hindered them, rendering our students and our colleagues vulnerable to assault and arrest,'' she told the crowd. “Instead of confronting the many forms of prejudice that hinder attempts at reconciliation, including antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism, his administration allowed the physical and verbal harassment of the Palestine solidarity encampment to escalate in the worst incident of violence in our campus' history.''
UAW Local 4811 is asking the UC schools to give amnesty to all academic employees and students who face arrest or disciplinary actions for protesting. The union wants the students to have guarantees of freedom of speech and political expression on campus and is asking for researchers to be able to opt out of funding sources tied to the Israeli Defense Force.
Mary Osako, UCLA vice chancellor for strategic communications, issued a statement Tuesday saying, “Our talented students are getting ready for finals, and UCLA's focus is doing whatever we can to support them. They're paying tuition and fees to learn, and we're dismayed by deliberate outside disruptions that get in the way of that. Students want to hear their professors teach, not the piercing sounds of trumpets, drums and slogans being shouted right outside their classroom windows.''
Union officials said earlier the strike is “in response to egregious unfair labor practices that UC has committed, including summoning militarized police officers from numerous outside law enforcement to violently eject and arrest peaceful protesters at UCLA, UC Irvine, and UC San Diego; making unilateral changes to standards for employee discipline, free speech rights and academic freedom; and disciplining and suspending employees engaged in peaceful protest,'' according to the union.
The UC system has blasted the union's allegations and filed unfair labor practice complaints of its own, saying the union's labor contract has a no-strike provision and that the union's demands are outside the scope of union labor issues.
The state's Public Employment Retirement Board declined the university's request for an injunction that would have blocked the strike, but UC officials said the board issued a complaint against the union saying the walkout is “contrary to the no-strike clauses in their collective bargaining agreements.'' Union officials said PERB has also called for both sides to meet and discuss the issues, forcing the university to the table rather than just seeking an injunction.
The union represents teaching assistants, readers, tutors, student researchers and academic researchers.
