For one month, UCSC wildcat strikers have maintained a full picket at the base of campus. Over this period, Metro buses have refused to cross our picket line, alongside thousands of grads, undergrads, faculty, lecturers, staff, technical workers, and UPS drivers. Our strike has spread across the UC system and has gathered major press coverage, donations, and support from around the world. It has invigorated collective imagination about the future of the university and graduate education in the UC system. This would have no doubt have been less effective had we not been out on the picket line every day for four weeks.
The picket line has been a central site of organizing the strike thus far, and has served as a meeting place for so many of us who did not know each other before. It has served as a space for debate, deliberation, and mutual aid. As a result, it has also been subject to intimidation and attacks from police, reckless or belligerent drivers, and further threats by the administration—all of which have, of course, failed to stop this movement.
After much discussion, however, it has become clear that our strategy must change. Much of our vitality as a movement lies in our adaptability. For the final week of the quarter, we are advancing our picket line up the hill and into the heart of campus. Our picket line will roll through different locations across the week, beginning at 9am in McHenry on Monday. We encourage the entire campus community to join us.
Our work stoppage continues.
More information on the week’s events will follow. See you on the rolling picket.
Solidarity forever,
Striking Graduate Students