From gsa_pres
Today, UCSC administration announced the termination of 54 graduate student workers, and sent out official dismissal letters to at least 44 of us.
Late this afternoon, a series of graduate student workers received an email from the Office of the EVC containing only the following single sentence:
This email serves to inform you that you will no longer be considered for or receive any Academic Student Employee (ASE) appointment including such positions as teaching assistant, graduate student instructor, tutor, or reader, for the spring quarter of the 2019-20 academic year.
We are still confirming the number of fired graduate student workers, and believe it may be as high as 80.
In solidarity with their comrades and colleagues on Kletzer’s chopping block, graduate students from 22 academic departments, comprising over 550 individual workers, have already pledged at a minimum to refuse Spring appointments vacated by terminated grads. Many of these graduate workers have pledged to refuse all Spring appointments if a single wildcat striker is terminated. Taking these pledges at their word, at least 394 graduate student workers are now committed to declining spring appointments in one form or another.
In response to this grave administrative escalation, we call for the cancellation of classes on Monday and for everyone to join us on the picket for a press conference at 9am.
On Monday, we wear red for the future of higher ed. The strike continues. See you on the picket.