By Farrukh Abadi
Over 48,000 graduate students and other academic workers across the University of California school system are set to strike against campus repression targeting pro-Palestine protesters. Union local UAW 4811, the largest union of academic workers in the country, authorized the strike in a vote on May 15, preparing the first strike in the US against the Israeli genocide since October 7.
The union local stated the strike is in response to the violent repression of peaceful pro-Palestine protests, including UCLA’s failure to stop a Zionist mob assault on student protesters and police repression across campuses, both of which included attacks on union members. The local’s strike authorization statement said they would strike should the university violate union members’ legally protected “right to participate in protected, concerted activity; discriminate against union members or political viewpoints; and create or allow threats to members’ health and safety.”
The local has upheld protesters’ demands, including divestment from companies profiting from Israel’s genocide, amnesty for all students and staff facing disciplinary charges, the right to free speech, disclosure of the university’s funding source, and allowing researchers to opt out from funding sources “tied to the military or foundations that support Palestinian oppression.”
About 41% of union members voted, with the vote passing with a supermajority of 79%. On Friday, the executive board of UAW 4811 announced a “stand-up strike” modeled after UAW’s strikes against the “Big Three” automakers last fall. The stand-up strike, developed by UAW President Shawn Fain, calls only a portion of workers off the job and to the picket line at a time. Fain argues this gives striking workers greater “flexibility.” It also gives the bosses breathing room that a full strike would not.
On Monday, May 20, UC Santa Cruz is the first campus to go on strike, while union members across the other 9 campuses in the UC system were told to “stand by and prepare to stand up if your campus is called.” The strike has an established end date of June 30.
While the local says the strike is over unfair labor practices, the university argues the strike is over “non-labor related disputes,” is illegal, and sets a “dangerous precedent,” allowing “every other public agency in California [to] face constant strikes advancing political and/or social viewpoints.”
Political strikes are “unlawful” under the National Labor Relations Act; however this is not the first time the Palestinian liberation struggle has inspired workers in the US to the picket lines. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has conducted a series of “hot cargo” strikes in the last 20 years, refusing to handle cargo from Israeli ships during upticks in Israeli butchery against the Palestinian people.
Unionization on campuses has seen a strong uptick across the country since 2020, with a 75% increase in the number of students represented by a union between 2020-2023. The surge in unionized students and staff at universities has set the stage for student struggles to be combined with organized labor and potentially reach broader numbers of workers off campus.
