In what may be the largest student labor strike in U.S. history, the graduate student employees' union at eight University of California (UC) campuses began a walkout last week, demanding that the administration recognize their union. UC officials say that's out of the question, although they're willing to negotiate over working conditions.
The strike was timed to wreak maximum havoc, coming just a few weeks before the end of the term. Without grad student help, professors will be swamped grading final exams and term papers and won't have assistants to provide prefinals review sessions.
It's not yet clear how many are striking, although the union now comprises more than 9000 teaching assistants, tutors, and readers. Grad students, who say the administration is unresponsive to their grievances, are demanding collective bargaining rights. A major complaint is that the classes they teach are too big.
UC President Richard Atkinson, in an open letter, has reiterated the university position that graduate students are primarily students and cited a 1992 court ruling making it illegal for UC to recognize teaching assistants as employees. But, he pledged to "work in good faith to resolve the issues of interest to them." No meetings between the two sides had been scheduled as Science went to press.
