Hundreds of academic workers at UC Santa Cruz on Monday became the first to walk off their jobs, in a rolling strike that immediately disrupted university operations as picketing union members forced classes online and restricted access to campus.
United Auto Workers Local 4811, the largest union in the UC system, represents 48,000 graduate student teaching assistants, tutors, researchers and other academic workers. Members voted to strike last week over alleged free speech violations and how the system leaders have cracked down on pro-Palestinian protests throughout campuses.
Citing “possible access challenges” on campus, university officials switched to remote instruction at noon Monday. A series of labor actions is expected to move across some of the 10 University of California campuses at the critical end of the term, with finals, course work grading and commencement in the coming weeks, the academic workers’ union said.
On Monday afternoon, hundreds of graduate students massed near the main entrance to campus, blocking some vehicles as they held signs and chanted: “The workers united will never be defeated!”
Santa Cruz is a smaller UC campus of 19,764 students, with nearly 2,000 in graduate school.
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Author: Joe Weber
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