UAW 4811 has called on academic workers at UC San Diego to “stand up” and strike on June 3, joining three other UCs already on strike. The announcement was made at approximately 9 a.m. on May 31 via an Instagram post on the UAW 4811 account. 

UC Santa Cruz was the first to strike on May 20. UCLA and UC Davis followed on May 28. UC Santa Barbara will join the strike on June 3, with UC Irvine set to join on June 5. 

The strike means that academic workers, such as TAs, academic researchers, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate student researchers will stop working until there is a resolution to their Unfair Labor Practice charges. These charges were a result of the UC’s dismantling of and hostility toward the Gaza Solidarity Encampments across its campuses.  

Sean Pike, the unit chair for postdoctoral students at UCSD in the UAW 4811 union, spoke at a rally organized by Students for Justice in Palestine on May 31.  

“UC San Diego decided that the encampment represented a kind of community that they will not tolerate on this campus,” he said. “So they called in riot cops with guns, pepper spray, brutalizing and arresting students and workers in the process.” 

“In response, the members of our union voted overwhelmingly to withhold our labor from the UC and to go on strike,” Pike added.

In response to the ongoing and upcoming strikes across the UC system, the university released the following statement:

“We are disheartened that UAW continues publicly escalating its unlawful strike in violation of its contracts’ no-strike clause and encouraging its members to disrupt and harm the ability of our students to navigate finals and other critical year-end activities successfully,” the statement said.

“UAW’s goal to “maximize chaos and confusion” has come to fruition, creating substantial and irreparable impacts on campuses and impacting our students at a crucial time of their education. We are hopeful [the Public Employment Relations Board] will intervene and ask the court to end this precedent-setting, unlawful action.”

The last time UAW members went on strike was in November and December of 2022, in response to unfair labor practices and claims the UC system undermined the union. 

This is an ongoing story, and The UCSD Guardian will provide updates as necessary.