On June 7, the Orange County Superior Court issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against UAW 4811 at the request of the University of California Board of Regents. In effect, the court has ordered workers not to strike and has prohibited labor withholding and picketing activities until June 27. This court decision circumvents the statewide ruling of California’s Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), which has twice struck down the UC’s attempts to declare our strike unlawful.
This is an unprecedented attack on workers’ rights and the labor movement, and a brazen attempt to undermine California labor law and the California Constitution. In seeking out one of the most conservative courts in the state to achieve a ruling in their favor, the UC Regents—the unelected board of landlords and real estate moguls appointed by the governor to operate this university like a corporation—have made it clear that they will do anything to undermine our strike and the power of our organized labor.
The UC Regents, and the Democratic Party that supports them, maintain close ties to arms production, surveillance, and policing, and they are willing to subvert labor law in order to protect their investments and their power.
We, the rank-and-file workers of UAW 4811, must not be cowed in this critical moment. If we back down, we allow the ruling class to determine how we protest unfair labor practices—and how we fight genocide. We will meet tomorrow to determine how we will respond, and we encourage all our coworkers at the University of California to join us.
We call on the California Labor Federation and the entire labor movement to join us in fighting this calculated attack on the right to strike and on the rights of workers everywhere. We remain committed in our opposition to the US war machine and the UC’s vast investments in the industries that support it. We remain committed to our strike and to the people of Palestine.
-Rank and File for a Democratic Union, UCLA
