University of California academic workers strike to stand up for pro-Palestinian protesters

SANTA CRUZ, California (AP) — Graduate students at the University of California, Santa Cruz walked off their jobs and went on strike Monday. Academic workers at UC Santa Cruz are the first to do so as part of a systemwide protest against a public university they say has violated the speech rights of pro-Palestinian advocates. United Auto Workers Local 4811 represents 48,000 graduate students who work as teaching assistants, tutors and researchers across the system’s 10 campuses. They say arrests of protesters at UCLA and elsewhere constitute an unfair labor practice. UC officials say the work stoppages violate the bargaining agreement.