Dear campus community,
Interim Vice Chancellor Lori Kletzer has sent another email today once again refusing to meet with graduate students on the question of a COLA (cost of living adjustment).
First, there is nothing new in this email. UCSC administrators have consistently called this grading strike an “illegal work stoppage.” This wording, however, needs to be questioned. Whether or not a wildcat strike is illegal is actually a complex question. Yes, graduate students have stated they intend to violate an agreement (the statewide UAW 2865 bargaining agreement) by withholding their labor for approximately one hour on December 18. And yes, the University has recourse to legal means to enforce that contract. But no laws have been broken, and the University has the ability to resolve the issue of a cost of living adjustment for UCSC graduate students before the contract itself is breached. Indeed, there are precedents within the UC system for negotiations with graduate students outside of the statewide union bargaining unit.
In other words, the University is saying they can’t meet with us because of an “illegal work stoppage.” In reality, they are choosing not to meet with us before graduate students have actually taken any unauthorized action. The administration is hiding behind the technical language of labor and employment law to intimidate people into backing down. We are not afraid. However, what has become clear is that the administration does not want to settle this matter themselves.
There is also a historical dimension concerning “unauthorized” work actions that we want to emphasize. Wildcat strikes – strikes that occur during the term of a collective bargaining agreement in place between a union and employer and in violation of a “no-strike” clause – are a persistent feature of U.S. and international labor history. They have varied widely in terms of size, cause, duration, and form, and have transpired in every industry and sector of employment. Wildcats have proven to be tactically effective in winning greater concessions for the most disempowered members of society. They have demonstrated the power that can be built and wielded by people organizing and struggling together – collectively.
The most significant recent case of a wildcat strike victory is the 2018 West Virginia teachers’ strike, which launched the nationwide strike wave that we are now set to be a part of. We have seen subsequent strikes by educators in Colorado, Oklahoma, Arizona, and California. This strike wave also provides a national context that the UCSC administration should consider: these wildcat strikes by public school teachers have taken place in some of the deepest red states in the U.S. Is the largest employer in the bluest state, a state whose top public officials pride themselves on their progressive values, really prepared to carry out broad retaliation against some of its lowest-paid employees?
Finally, there is no need to choose whether this is a wage issue or a non-wage issue. The truth is, it’s both. When graduate students are on fellowship or working as GSRs, we can call their COLA payment a “COLA fellowship.” When graduate students are working as TAs or GSIs, we can call their additional $1,412 payment a “COLA wage.” Call it whatever you want. Call it a banana! We don’t care what you call it, as long as you give it to us. The strike will continue until the University presents their offer and all graduate students vote to accept it! Until then, we will not submit.
Signed,
Sarah Mason
GSA Internal Co-Vice President of Shared Governance