48,000 University of California academic workers are on strike across the state today. 3000 of those workers are on strike here in the Inland Empire— at UC Riverside.
Mai Do is a research assistant and PHD student at UC Riverside. They are also a member of the bargaining committee for the UAW Local 2685, a union for graduate student instructors, tutors, teaching assistants and readers at the University of California.
“So we are fighting. So we are bargaining for fair wages for a more accessible workplace, for housing, transportation, among other proposals to better not only are not only the UC at all workplaces, but the UC as a whole for the entirety of the campus communities that rely on the UC," said Do.
The strike began at 8am on Monday. People started walking the picket lines at 9.
“At UC Riverside, we have an incredibly diverse population of students, many of whom are from the Inland Empire, and who grew up in the Inland Empire, and face pollution, under-resourced, under-resourcing of their communities,” said Do.
Do says that graduate student instructors will be able to provide better instruction if they don’t have to worry about rent.
“I think I'm really feeling the energy, momentum and the care that is going into our picket line. People are out here not just for themselves, but also for their co-workers, for their families and for their students. Right. We're out here to support each other. And that feeling of solidarity is really inescapable on the picket line today,” said Do.
The strike comes weeks before final exams.