It’s Monday morning, and United Auto Workers (UAW) 4811 gather to strike at the base of campus. Up in Quarry Plaza, students at the UC Santa Cruz Gaza Solidarity Encampment begin to pack their bags. Not to disband, but to join UAW workers at the picket line.

UAW 4811 started their strike on May 20. The union consists of 48,000 academic student workers across all 10 UC campuses and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. They assert that police violence and neglect against union workers at UC Los Angeles, UC Irvine, and UC San Diego created an unsafe working environment within the UC system.

“Many workers have been arrested, many of them are facing potential suspension or expulsion. These are bypasses of our normal discipline procedure” said Jacob Fontana, graduate student worker in the statistics department and sergeant-at-arms of UAW 4811. “Not only are these things abhorrent, they’re also violations of labor law.”

The picket line formed at the base of campus at 7:30 a.m., and continued until 5 p.m. Around 60 people marched back and forth across the intersection of Bay Drive and High Street, chanting, beating drums, and holding signs that read “UAW on strike, unfair labor practice.” 

In an Instagram post, UCSC Students for Justice in Palestine and Student Dining Workers Union echoed UAW 4811’s call for undergraduate students to walk out and join the picket. As students from the encampment met the picket, they flooded the street and shut down the Bay Drive-Coolidge Drive intersection. 

Rebecca Gross, graduate student worker and unit chair of UAW 4811 for UCSC, felt the energy shift as undergraduate students joined the picket.

“As workers, our power comes from us withholding our labor, but the energy is often brought by undergrads in solidarity with us,” Gross said. 

While striking, union members receive strike pay of $500 a week in place of regular wages. Participating workers will not complete “struck work,” like grading and teaching, until the union reaches an agreement with the university.

“What I want the UC to know about this demonstration is that they can end it at any time by engaging in fair negotiations with the union,” said a graduate student worker who chose to remain anonymous. “We’re out here because we want our university to be fair and have reasonable conditions for students and workers.” 

In anticipation of further strike activity, university administration announced remote instruction of classes May 21 through May 24.

At 1 p.m., union workers, faculty, and others attending the strike in solidarity gathered to listen to speeches from various campus voices. Speakers included graduate students, union leaders, and faculty, who all emphasized the importance of unity and perseverance to the crowd. 

“We get ready to strike by talking with each other, by sitting down, by meeting in groups, by checking in, by hearing each other’s fears, concerns, and anxieties,” said Stefan Yong, a history of consciousness graduate student, in a speech to the pickets. “There’s a lot of things to be afraid of, but solidarity means not being afraid alone.”