A strike by University of California academic workers over the treatment of pro-Palestinian protesters was temporarily halted by a Southern California judge on Friday after the university argued the strike was causing “irreparable harm” to students.
The temporary restraining order, issued by Orange County Superior Court Judge Randall J. Sherman, came as tens of thousands of UC students prepared for finals at the end of the spring semester. The judge’s order came in response to the public university system’s third attempt to force thousands of unionized assistant professors, teachers, researchers and other key workers back to work.
Workers represented by United Auto Workers Local 4811 walked off the job May 20 at UC Santa Cruz, then expanded the rolling strike to campuses in Davis, Los Angeles, Irvine, San Diego and Santa Barbara. The union represents about 48,000 graduate students and other academic workers across the UC system, which includes 10 universities and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The academic workers have argued, among various charges, that the University of California’s response to protests over the Israel-Hamas war amounts to a unilateral change in free speech policies and has created an unsafe work environment.
The university system has said the strike is not about working conditions, but rather an effort to force UC institutions to take a stand on a political issue. University leaders have twice asked the state Public Labor Relations Board, which normally oversees public sector labor issues, to declare the union’s action illegal. The board found both times that the university’s claims did not meet the legal threshold required to prevent the strike.
The university sought injunctive relief on Tuesday and sued the union for breach of contract, alleging that the workers had violated no-strike clauses in their collective bargaining agreements. In a separate filing, the state labor board noted it was already looking into that issue and questioned whether Orange County Superior Court — whose jurisdiction includes Irvine, the site of one of the walkouts — was the proper forum for the university to seek relief .
The order did not decide the merits of the strike or the board’s jurisdiction, finding only that the university had made a sufficient case to stay the strike pending a hearing. But the practical result is that the strike will effectively end. the judge set the next court date for June 27 and the strike was only granted until June 30. Plus, college campuses will be dramatically quieter when finals are over next week.
“We are extremely grateful for the cessation of this strike so that our students can complete their academic studies,” Melissa Mattela, UCLA’s associate vice president for system-wide labor relations, said in a statement. He added that the strike “would have caused irreversible setbacks in students’ academic achievement and may have stopped critical research”.
Rafael Jaime, president of UAW 4811, called the strike “not over.”
“Academic workers at UC are facing an attack on our entire movement,” he said. “The law is on our side and we are prepared to continue to defend our rights — and outside, 48,000 workers are ready for a long fight.”
