East Bay DSA Stands with the University of California COLA Wildcat Strikes and UAW 2865!

Graduate student wild cat strike leaders at UC Santa Cruz march down the road demanding a cost of living adjustment (COLA) now! (Photo: @zoathexplora) 

East Bay DSA stands in solidarity with UAW 2865 and the University of California student-workers in their courageous wildcat strikes for a cost-of-living-adjustment for a living wage and their union organizing in response to unfair labor practices by the University of California.

Since December, University of California graduate student workers on at least four campuses — including UC Santa Cruz, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, UC Berkeley — have conducted wildcat work stoppages, pickets, or grading strikes seeking a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in the face of crushing austerity from Sacramento and skyrocketing rents across California.

In response to these actions, the University of California administration has retaliated with firings of over fifty striking workers and a lawsuit against UAW 2865, seeking to bankrupt or decertify the union. These attempts to punish student-workers for these actions are a political decision meant to divide workers and break the wildcat strike.

Now, UAW 2865 is escalating towards a potential systemwide strike of student-workers at the University of California in response to these unfair labor practices, pending a strike authorization vote. We stand in solidarity with the union and the wildcat strikers as they seek to spread the strike, and build power across all UC campuses to overturn the firings, win living wages, and protect their union.

These actions illustrate the power of public sector workers to fight for public goods like education, and that these graduate student-workers are fighting not just for better wages and in defense of their union, but for a decent and just world for every person on this planet. 

East Bay DSA denounces the University of California administration’s firing of striking student-workers, as well as administration attacks on the student-workers union, and demands that they be reinstated immediately. We stand in solidarity with UAW 2865 and the striking student-workers, as with all workers who put their jobs on the line to fight for themselves, their families, and their communities. 

We believe that we will win!