Yesterday the elected Bargaining Team members from each campus came together to make a major decision: calling for a membership strike authorization vote over UC’s Unfair Labor Practices. We decided that the ULPs UC has committed are so severe, including the unjust firings and bar to future employment of TAs at UC Santa Cruz, the unilateral changes to the disciplinary process denying workers due process and union representation, and bypassing the union and refusing to bargain over the impact of mounting rent burden, that we are now calling on the membership – you – to give our union authorization to call a strike should circumstances justify it.
Unless UC ceases and remedies its unlawful actions, UAW 2865 will hold an official strike vote in early April. Exact dates TBA.
Some groups of graduate students and community members acting apart from the Union are calling for strikes by the end of Winter Quarter. The Bargaining Team considered that option, but ultimately decided that the power and active member involvement required to make UC remedy its ULPs, by reversing the unjust discipline and bargaining with the Union over COLA, will require building consensus and strike readiness on every campus throughout the system. This union is a collective project to empower Academic Student Employees, and it is imperative we act in a democratic manner. Bargaining Team members will be spending much of our time talking with union members across the system over the next month to answer questions and concerns: reach out to get involved and help organize.
A ULP strike is different from a wildcat strike in that it is legally protected and authorized by a vote of the full union membership.
300 union members and supporters rallied yesterday at UCSD to support fired workers and protest UC’s Unfair Labor Practices
What can you do right now to help build our collective power to take action together and win?
- Ratify the bargaining framework NOW (voting ends Friday) if you have not already to support our ongoing demand to bargain.
- Circulate this petition calling on the University to bargain with the Union.
- Look out for a ULP strike pledge launch next week, where you can pledge to go on a ULP strike, if unfairs persist making it necessary, should ⅔ of members vote to authorize it.
In Solidarity,
UAW 2865