Posts tagged academic researchers
OPINION Unionized academic workers go on strike, for what?
June 4, 2024 // The union, which states on its website that it “will not negotiate on behalf of encampment organizers,” has filed multiple complaints against the University of California with the state’s Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) since the beginning of May, when the university called in law enforcement to break down the “Palestine Solidarity Encampment” at UCLA. By then the initial 30 tents had grown into a massive, self-barricaded site that attracted angry counter-protesters in a violent overnight clash. The union’s complaint listed “workplace demands” that included the “right to opt out of participation in military-funded research,” and the “disclosure and divestment of University funds from Israel’s war effort.” The UAW local also complained that a new discipline policy of an “applicable review process” for employees who are arrested or cited was imposed without “notice or opportunity to bargain.” Further, the union wants the university to “make whole” any employees who were reported for criminal activity by paying their civil fines, attorney fees, bail and damage expenses.
UC student workers expand strike as they demand amnesty for protestors
May 31, 2024 // While the strike is technically distinct from the larger protest movement against the war, the two movements are related. Last Thursday, several hundred UCLA members of the UAW 4811 held a rally in support of their impending strike. Moments later, they joined a student-led protest demanding that the UC call for a ceasefire and divest from weapons manufacturers and the Israeli economy. That same day, protesters erected a short-lived encampment and temporarily took over a campus building before being pushed out by police. It was a clear sign that, despite hundreds of arrests in May, thousands of students, union members and some faculty remain passionate about their pro-Palestinian advocacy.