Letters to the Editor: How UC has exploited the student academic workers on strike
April 7, 2012
Over the past weeks, you have sent me some thoughtful responses on the strike at UCLA, the UC Berkeley protests, and the academic worker union that supported and organized those strikes.
There is a difference, however, between the way you have described these things and the way I have interpreted them. To begin with, I reject the idea that the striking workers have been exploiting the system by taking their employers’ money. They have been striking for the right to take these jobs in the face of an attack by the university and their employers on their academic labor. They aren’t taking their employers’ money and making it better or more lucrative for them. The fact is, they have chosen to strike. This is what they were asked to do.
My second point is that my response to your comments can best be summarized in one word. Fraud. Many of you accuse the striking workers of fraud and extortion when, in fact, the workers have been quite clear from the beginning that they are striking for the right to be able to continue to choose whether or not to work at their universities. This is what they were asked to do. It is a strike for the right to have the right not to do the jobs they do at their universities and colleges. In other words, it is a strike to defend the academic labor rights of workers at their universities.
I understand that many of you disagree with me on this. And it is a legitimate disagreement. But, please don’t use me as your political punching bag. This is more complicated than that. By your definition, academic labor at UCLA shouldn’t be part of a strike – that is what you say. And by the same definition, academic labor at UC Berkeley shouldn’t be part of a strike – that is what I say. But in reality, they are both part of the same overall campaign of defense.
So, to answer your questions: I don’t know what you do and I don’t want to know. I don’t look at the facts and figure out what’s happening and then tell you that I disagree with your position. I look at the facts and read your comments, and I write them out in an effort to answer you. It
