UCLA workers strike over handling of pro-Palestinian protests

UCLA workers strike over protest response

Academic workers at UCLA and UC Davis walked off the job, striking over the way the University handled recent pro-Palestine protests.

LOS ANGELES - Union workers at UCLA walked off the job Tuesday afternoon upset with how the university handled recent pro-Palestinian protests.

"Exercise your legally protected right to refuse labor and if necessary, stop work all together," said Dr. Beth Ribet, a UCLA lecturer.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 4811 union represents almost 50,000 academic workers across the University of California (UC) system. The union protests Tuesday took place at UCLA and UC Davis.

"What do we want? Protection of free speech," said one union member Tuesday at UCLA.

The group is striking over what they call "unfair labor practices" and how UC schools handled pro-Palestinian protests. They say they’re going to continue striking until protesters receive amnesty, and the university discloses and divests funds relating to Israel.

"It looks like a work stoppage," said Benjamin Kersten, a PhD candidate at UCLA and UAW 4811 member. "Research will be put on hold [and] grades will be withheld, until the UC takes steps."

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block testified before Congress last week and was questioned over his handling of the pro-Palestinian camp-in demonstration. About 200 people were put in handcuffs including union members, who they claim were injured by police.

"Workers at the university were injured and have been facing severe repercussions and consequences for that activity," said Kersten. "So, we’re demanding the university takes steps to remedy those."

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Some UCLA students expressed their frustration with the union’s labor strike.

"I don’t really understand how the union is turning this from a union labor dispute, into a protest for political means," said Jonathan Cohn, a UCLA student.

"Most of us students are being penalized," said Ev Sijal, a UCLA student. "Our papers aren’t getting graded. Our finals are getting cancelled. We’re getting bad grades because our [teacher assistants] don’t want to work. I don’t think it’s fair for us students that have paid tuition that this is happening."

UCLA workers join unionized strike

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.

In the rally Tuesday on Bruin Walk, union workers said they’d return to campus Wednesday morning to continue their protest.

Mary Osako, UCLA vice chancellor for strategic communications, provided a written statement to the media responding to the union strike.

"Our talented students are getting ready for finals, and UCLA’s focus is doing whatever we can to support them," said Osako. "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."