Members of the United Auto Workers Union (UAW) Local 4811 and allies initiated a public rally at UC San Francisco on Wednesday, demanding the UC Regents address union-sponsored Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges and grant amnesty for pro-Palestine protesters previously arrested at UC campus encampments.
The rally coincided with the on-campus UC Regents meeting, which spanned from Tuesday to Thursday. Rally attendees began picketing at Genentech Hall at 11 a.m. and marched to the Rutter Center, where the meeting was held. Participants held yellow and black signs reading “DROP ALL CHARGES” and “WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED” as they chanted demands.
The rally called for the UC to “drop all criminal and student conduct charges against everyone who was unfairly arrested as they protested the war in Gaza,” UAW 4811 president Rafael Jaime said in a press release.
Across UC campuses, police arrested students, faculty and community members at pro-Palestine encampment protests in the spring. At UCI, 47 individuals were arrested after police dismantled the campus encampment on May 15. Of those arrested, 27 were reported to be students who were then suspended and barred from accessing campus facilities
“The University of California has a long and proud history of supporting freedom of speech and First Amendment rights,” UC President Michael Drake said in a statement following the encampment breakdown at UCI.
Unlawful protests, however, are “unacceptable and cannot be tolerated,” Drake said. “When that [free] expression blocks the ability of students to learn or to express their own viewpoints, when it meaningfully disrupts the functioning of the University, or when it threatens the safety of students, or anyone else, we must act.”
In response to UC-directed police action towards protests on campuses, UAW 4811 filed ULP charges against UC schools throughout May and submitted charges against the UC Regents on May 21. The UAW alleged that the police action was “retaliation” against “protected concerted protest activity” and thus constituted a violation of the Higher Education Employee-Employer Relations Act (HEERA).
On June 5, after the UAW authorized a strike that took place throughout May for the university system’s response to pro-Palestine encampments, the UC filed a lawsuit against the UAW for violation of contract. The ongoing lawsuit alleges that union members blocked access points and voted to strike based on “political and social issues, not terms of employment and issues related to labor,” according to a UC Office of the President (UCOP) press release.
Emily Weintraut, UC Davis Academic Student Employee (ASE) Unit Chair for UAW 4811, attended the rally and deemed the filing of ULP charges as the result of unproductive negotiations and “unilateral changes” in free speech policies by the UC.
“We’re going to continue to show up, show out, because we demand that we have academic freedom on our campuses and where we work,” Weintraut told New University. “We’ve tried time and time again to negotiate … [and] that’s almost what I see now — this refusal to negotiate and this insistence on making unilateral changes despite no legal basis to do that.”
During the morning public comment session at the UC Regents meeting on July 17, UCLA Graduate Student Association (GSA) President Noor Nakhaei advocated for open dialogue between university leadership and school communities.
“I urge the Regents to prioritize rebuilding trust through direct dialogue with students. I encourage proactive discussions to foster understanding and collaboration,” Nakhaei said. “Students are advocating for justice, not harm.”
In an interview with the LA Times, UC Regent Rich Leib spoke about ideas for university action.
“I am confident that encampments won’t be tolerated … I’m confident the regents feel we need to enforce the rules,” Leib said. “I’d be ashamed if we didn’t have strong feelings and strong controversies and these kinds of big gatherings to express your opinions … But we have to keep campus open for everybody.”
The California state government tasked the UCOP with developing a systemwide directive for guidelines for student expression and university handling of student protests. The UC must deliver a report to the state legislature by Oct. 1 or risk losing $25 million in state fundings.
“Moving forward, in close partnership with UC chancellors, President Drake is focused on learning from what transpired over the last few months and ensuring that we have more consistency across the system in how key policies are implemented and enforced,” UCOP representative Rachel Zaentz wrote in an email to The Daily Californian.
UC Berkeley ASE Head Steward Gabe Classon attended Wednesday’s rally and spoke to New University about the UC’s free speech and protest policies. He referenced the confrontations between protesters, counter-protesters and police in May at the UCLA encampment, describing perceived inconsistencies in the UC’s enforcement of free speech policies.
“It’s extremely concerning to me that these folks who had an encampment, who were exercising their rights to free speech and protest, were attacked for hours at UCLA, and the police just stood by for hours and let it happen,” Classon said. “And the same police — which the UC called — went, and a few hours later, used excessive force to arrest all those peaceful protesters while letting the vast, vast majority of these violent reactionary outsiders go free.”
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block testified in front of Congress on May 23 about the events of the campus encampment break-down, when over 200 individuals were arrested. Block stated that leadership will “hold accountable those who engaged in violence and violated our policies” and said that police were investigating and identifying violent counter-protesters.
Karen Wang is a News Editor. She can be reached at karenw14@uci.edu.
Beatrice Lee is an Assistant News Editor. She can be reached at beatrirl@uci.edu.
Edited by Kaelyn Kwon, Victoria Le and Jaheem Conley.