More than 100 researchers and student employees rallied at UC Santa Barbara on Monday to prepare for a possible strike.

UAW 4811, which represents academic student employees, academic researchers, and graduate and post-doctoral researchers at all 11 campuses in the UC system, won approval earlier this month to call for a strike on select campuses.

It’s in response to administrative actions taken against student solidarity encampments at UC Los Angeles, UC San Diego and UC Irvine.

“Get your strike commitments, get ready to withhold your labor, your research, your grades,” organizer Laura Snell told the crowd at the UCSB rally. “Grow your power in as many parts of the campus as you can.”

On May 3, the union filed unfair labor practice charges against UCLA alleging that the university allowed violent attacks against protesters, forcibly arrested and deprived members of their liberty, and prohibited pro-Palestine speech at the worksite. The union later amended the unfair labor practice charges to include incidents at UC San Diego and UC Irvine. 

On Friday, the UC Office of the President filed unfair labor practice charges against the union, claiming the strike is illegal because of a no-strike provision in their agreement. 

Workers at UC Santa Cruz are the first to go on strike, with approximately 1,500 graduate workers, researchers, and teacher assistants walking off their jobs Monday morning. 

Workers at UCSB are prepared to do the same if they receive word from the UAW 4811 executive board to do so, representatives said.

Students set up a solidarity encampment at UCSB about three weeks ago. Organizers released a set of demands to the university administration, including divesting from weapons manufacturers, abolishing the campus police department, an academic boycott of Israel, and reinvesting resources back into the community.

Chancellor Henry Yang and other administration representatives have visited the encampment and talked to participants, but so far there have been no negotiations over the encampment’s demands.

UAW 4811 claims that the UC administration has mishandled the situation with Palestine solidarity encampments and that actions taken by the administration put union members at risk. 

On its website, UAW 4811 claimed that the UC administration put union workers at risk by allowing violent attacks on pro-Palestine protesters and making changes to working conditions that impacted union members’ work, safety and academic freedom. 

UAW 4811 also claims that members have been disciplined for participating in peaceful protests and that the administration summoned law enforcement to forcibly remove members from protests. 

Madeline Vailhe, who spoke at the rally and is a UCSB graduate student in the materials department, said she was disturbed to see the protesters at UCLA attacked.

“Seeing that and knowing it could happen to me, it could happen to my friends in my department, I think that we should be able to have free speech and not be singled out for what we’re talking about,” Vailhe told Noozhawk. 

Vailhe said that in preparation for the strike, they are working on talking to workers to make sure they’re ready and understand what is going on.

“Looking at how the university responds to peaceful protests on their campus is disheartening,” Vailhe said. “This is our time to really fight back and say that that shouldn’t be allowed to actually happen. You shouldn’t be using the police to manage your workers that are fighting for their rights.”

During the rally, Vailhe encouraged the crowd to speak with their co-workers and departments about the strike and warned about UC trying to divide the union. 

“The UC is trying to scare and divide us, and it’s up to us how we’re going to respond to that,” Vailhe said. “Their threats are illegal. They know that, and they’re doing it to weaken us.”

Uma Clemenceau, a UCSB undergraduate student worker, spoke about the efforts to form an undergraduate student worker union at UCSB. Students filed to form a union in December but have not been recognized by the UC system. 

“That same employer decided it’s OK to shoot rubber bullets at our co-workers who dare question why this university has ties to the military industrial complex,” Clemenceau said.

At the rally, Clemenceau said the UC administration wouldn’t recognize their union unless they represented every single undergraduate student worker across all 11 campuses. 

“We are not just organizing undergraduate students for better wages and better working conditions,” Clemenceau said. “We are organizing a union because we are questioning the very idea that education should be commodified and privatized.” 

Throughout the rally, protesters repeated several chants calling the union strong, that they are ready to strike and that education is under attack. The rally lasted about 45 minutes, and the crowd peacefully dispersed after some chants at the end of the rally. 

UAW 4811 plans to hold another rally at noon Thursday in the Arbor on campus, and until then, members prepare for the possibility of going on strike.