UAWD is in Solidarity with Striking University of California Workers at UAW Local 4811
by UAWD | May 29, 2024
Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD), the rank-and-file caucus in the United Auto Workers (UAW), is in solidarity with striking University of California (UC) workers at UAW Local 4811. Voting in support of strike action in overwhelming numbers, Local 4811 members have decided to “walk off the job because it’s time for academic workers to defend our rights to free speech, peaceful protest and collective action in the face of our employer’s egregious unfair labor practices.”
We are inspired that our UAW siblings are engaging in collective strike action, both to stand in solidarity with UC organizers fighting for Palestine liberation and to defend their own freedoms, and their colleagues’ and students’ freedoms, to speak out on campus. We are in awe of the thousands of rank-and-file members who have taken lead and continue to organize support for the strike to grow to more campuses, to build power against the actions of UC management.
UC workers have faced serious repression in their workplace over protected forms of speech, and they have endured threats and direct harms to their safety at the hands of campus cops, directed by UC management. Their struggle echoes that of nationwide campus encampments and Detroit-area organizers, which UAWD has recently expressed solidarity with. UC workers’ choice to strike, to collectively act as workers in response to these grievous unfair labor practices, is one that we hope the labor movement will learn from as free speech continues to be challenged by bosses and the police, and as the struggle for Palestine liberation and divestment grows.
