Sentinel: UC Santa Cruz grad students withhold grades in wild cat strike

Saying they can no longer afford the cost of housing in Santa Cruz, an unknown number of graduate student workers have declared an unauthorized wild cat strike. According to the Santa Cruz Sentinel, teaching assistants are withholding final grades and research assistants are refusing additional work until demands are met.

It remains unclear how many graduate students are participating in the strike, or how it will impact the end of the semester for undergraduate students. What is clear is that the strike did not come out of nowhere for the administration as the Graduate Student union had filed a complaint with the administration on November 7th highlighting the housing plight of many grad student workers who are confronted with homelessness, sleeping in cars and garages, and doubling up in rooms to save on rent. Contracts are negotiated at the system level between UC and UAW 2865, UAW 2865 had not responded to the Sentinel's request for a comment, but had posted on its Facebook page that

At a rally of support for striking students, graduate workers highlighted what they view as a system of exploitation that goes beyond paychecks forcing students to pay 50-60% of their wages on rent. Five stewards on the UCSC campus resigned their positions on Thursday to make way for the strike and limit the unions legal liability. Striking students say they are prepared to accept the consequences of a strike that violates their contract, as the needs on the ground have simply become too much to bear.