On May 20th, members of the U.A.W 4811 at UC Santa Cruz plan to go on strike to protest the way pro-Palestine demonstrations have been managed. The U.A.W 4811 is a union representing 48,000 graduate students and educational workers at 10 University of California system campuses, and 2,000 members are planned to be present during the strike. UC Santa Cruz was the kick-off to a series of protests at other University of California campuses.
The U.A.W. educational workers are not just going on strike, they are making a statement. Their primary aim is to protest the way that the pro-Palestine demonstrations have been managed by California Universities. UC Santa Cruz restrained protesters’ basic rights to the freedom of speech. According to U.A.W 4811 the president, Rafael Jaime, UC Santa Cruz has committed a plethora of unethical actions towards the protestors. These actions consisted of discrimination against pro-Palestine presentations, unsafe conditions provided, and attacks allowed on protesters by the college system.
Meanwhile, at other University of California campuses, similar events and protests have been occurring. UCLA had an attack from counter-protesters against a pro-Palestine encampment 2 weeks ago. During the attack, there were no signs of police present, although the next day, officers took down the encampment and arrested over 200 people. UC Berkeley and UC Irvine had an abundance of protesters arrested and pro-Palestine encampments taken down by officers as well. Police arrested a minimum of 12 people at UC Berkeley, and others were taken in handcuffs. At UC Irvine, police and protesters had a conflict, as protesters did not abide by the police. This resulted in 47 people getting arrested, and 26 of those people were students. Classes had to transition to an online format until the conflict was cleared.
For UC Santa Cruz though, their protest is meant to end on June 30th. Since the spring semester of UC Santa Cruz ends on June 13th, this could interfere with coursework, as educational workers are also involved.
