Dear [Department] Department Faculty,

You have likely heard that UAW 4811 has called a strike authorization vote next week; we write to address this recent development and what it might mean for the weeks ahead. We highly value our [Department] community and that we are able to have open conversations about things like this.

In the past few weeks we have seen an inspirational upsurge in student protests on campuses around the US and the world in solidarity with the Palestinian people in the face of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza. We write in solidarity with these students, and in response to the urgent appeal for labor action issued by the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions. Furthermore, following the violent attacks by anti-Palestinian counter-protestors at UCLA, and the arrest of peaceful protesters (including union members) by the Los Angeles Police Department, UAW 4811 (which represents all ASE’s, GSRs, post-docs, and academic researchers in the UC system) filed an unfair labor practice (ULP) charge against the university. It is very likely that more ULP charges will follow. The ULP charge allows for a sanctioned strike, through precisely the same mechanism as the strike in 2022.

The UC is actively supporting Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza and decades-long occupation of the West Bank, investing millions in Exxon Mobil, Coca-Cola, General Electric, and weapons supplier Honeywell, as well as billions of dollars in military contractors through index funds. These corporations are in the Who Profits and AFSC databases, which tracks companies that are commercially involved in the economy of Israeli’s war and occupation and thus are key to upholding them. This is in addition to the UC’s role in developing the military technologies that Israel has used against the Palestinians.

X percent of academic workers currently employed in our department are strike-ready and will vote Yes on the upcoming Strike Authorization Vote. We are committed to striking as long as it takes for the UC to make substantial concessions toward divestment and to empower researchers to leave military-funded grants.

What we are asking of the department:

The point of a strike is to cause disruption and exert pressure, and we recognize that your work will inevitably be impacted by this. We hope your allyship will continue and aid us all towards a speedier resolution to the strike. We ask of the department faculty the following:

• We ask that all faculty and staff do not retaliate against any workers who strike or vote to strike. We have the right to strike, and this is a protected ULP strike under labor law, meaning retaliation would be illegal.
• We ask that you do not name any workers on strike, as that will most likely result in those workers facing retaliation. The management may send out attestation forms to faculty for you to report workers who are on strike. If you decide to withhold this, doing so as a group provides better protection from any possible retaliation. We ask you not to report any strike activity within the department to keep student workers safe.
• We ask that you do not take up struck labor. We ask that you do not perform the work normally done by striking workers or bring in new workers to do the work of striking workers. Faculty taking up struck labor diminishes the impact of the strike in the eyes of the UC administration and prolongs it. It hurts our ability to win what we are fighting for and resume the term as normal as soon as possible. You, as faculty, have rights under HEERA to not pick up struck labor (see Q8 from CUCFA’s 2022 faculty rights explainer) The administration may try to pressure you to do this, and we ask that you refuse to carry out this strikebreaking. For more on your rights, please reach out to SCFA or AFT.
• Finally, we ask for a statement of support for our strike, for our demands, and of non-retaliation. In addition to a department-level statement of non-retaliation for strikers, we ask that faculty individually sign the UC Faculty Pledge of Non-Retaliation with UAW 4811 ULP Strike.

If you would like to offer additional support, we suggest that the department email Chancellor Cynthia Larive (chancellor@ucsc.edu) or Provost/Executive Vice Chancellor Lori Kletzer (cpevc@ucsc.edu) to urge the UC to meet our demands. Your collective voice holds significant influence with the university administration. We urge you to use this power to send a clear message of support for our strike demands, which ultimately aim to put pressure on Israel to stop the genocide in Gaza, in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

In solidarity,

The [Department] ASEs, GSRs, academic researchers, and postdocs

Note: a signature does not indicate an attestation of strike activity but merely a vote in support of this letter.