UCI United Auto Workers (UAW) Stand Up Strike, workers began marching on Campus Dr at 2 p.m on June 7. The march started at the intersection of Stanford and Campus Dr. From there, the strikers moved down the street to West Peltason Dr and circled around to reconvene at the flag poles. UCI PD cars drove behind while strikers marched on the road.
Teaching assistant (TA) and Ph.D. candidate in political science Michelle Kim Gardner, spoke to New University about the turnout and their efforts to ensure everybody was safe during the march.
“A lot of people came out; there was a really good turnout. We had the numbers we needed to be disruptive, and we had the numbers we needed to also ensure that everything was safe,” Gardner said.
From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., workers gathered at the flagpoles, joining the picket line and striking against the University of California (UC) in the Stand Up Strike. The strike was authorized on May 15 as UAW filed unfair labor practice (ULP) charges against UC for the university system’s response to pro-Palestine encampments and protests. The strike at UCI began on Wednesday, June 5.
“We’re already struggling, you know, trying to afford living in Irvine when the university keeps pulling austerity measures,” Gardner said. “It was very important that our disruption today was, albeit disruptive, safe for everyone involved.”
On June 7, UC announced that, after filing a lawsuit with an Orange County court, they have been granted a temporary restraining order against UAW. The order will halt the strike until June 27. The strike is currently set to end on June 30. After failing to file an injunction against the union through the state Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), UC went to a state court to prevent “irreversible harm to the University,” according to a statement from the UC Office of the President.
Skylar Paxton is an Opinion Apprentice. She can be reached at paxtons@uci.edu.
