Teaching Assistants Plan Another Strike This School Year

UCLA graduate student employees and their counterparts at UC San Diego and UC Berkeley who walked off the job last week voted Friday to hold another strike this academic year in a continuing effort to win union recognition from university administration.

Union leaders called the five-day protest last week a success, claiming that they won strong campus support from students and faculty and fine-tuned organizational skills. About 1,100 teaching assistants, readers and tutors picketed the UCLA campus in the push for collective bargaining rights for graduate student employees. More than 2,300 employees struck systemwide, organizers said.

The next walkout could be longer and include more disruptive tactics, organizers said, and will increase pressure on the university. The strike will be held before the end of the academic year in June, but a date has not been selected, they said. Some of the issues include better salaries, smaller class sizes and fewer hours.

UCLA administrators said that the impact of last week’s strike was minimal and that another strike will not influence the university’s position. UCLA is appealing an administrative law judge’s ruling that instructional employees can unionize.