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Graduate students in California strike over free speech rights amidst university crackdowns on Pro-Palestine protests, fueling an ongoing legal battle.
GS
As thousands of graduate school students strike across California over university crackdowns on Pro-Palestine protests, a legal free-speech battle between universities and their graduate student unions has reached a boiling point.
On May 15, 79% of UAW Local 4811 union members authorized a strike for May 20. Predominantly made up of United Auto Workers, UAW Local 4811 represents 48,000 graduate students across California's university system.
"The university violated their obligation to protect student-workers right to free speech and their freedom from discrimination for their political view viewpoints,” said UAW Local 4811 President Rafael Jamie.
“The university engaged in unlawful action, unlawful practices throughout by changing its policy pertaining to protests on campus and discriminated against those expressing pro-Palestinian views."
In response to the union’s strike announcement, UC Santa Cruz and other universities filed unfair practice charges with the California Public Employment Relations Board on May 17, accusing the union of violating the UC system's no-strike clause, including sympathy strikes, stoppages or work interruptions.
The university said in a statement that it asked the state to order union members to “cease and desist strike activity.”
Labor advocates say the legitimacy of the charges...
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