In true French/Berkeley fashion, UC workers of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees storm the Bastille … err, protest with large white and red signs on campus today. Across from Caffe Strada, we bumped into a group and diligently took a flyer.
Last Friday, the Superior Court of San Francisco issued a restraining order against AFSCME’s planned strike for this week. Did they not get the TPS report? Berkeley’s PR machine, NewsCenter, made sure to point out that disciplinary action will follow if workers strike this week. Oh noes.
The Daily Cal reported that the workers intend to strike this week just to show the Man how important they really are. But will they get fired for violating the court order?
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One thousand two hundred university campus service workers are planning a five-day walkout, and those are just Berkeley’s numbers. The strike-in-planning will take place at University of California campuses statewide.
Golden bears, baby bears, banana slugs and–whatever, all the other guys, too–must unite! Ninety-six percent of our beloved service workers qualify for public aid (e.g. food stamps, child care and housing subsidies).
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Many seniors expressed disdain that the 2008 Commencement Convocation speaker was Craig Newmark, the creator of Craigslist, and not someone like Steve Jobs or Nostradamus telling us what to do with life after college. But, hey, at least we had a speaker.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is at the height of demanding change for many underpaid UC service workers (this includes health care technicians, custodians, dining workers and more), and if they don’t reach a compromise with the university before this weekend, UCLA and UC Davis may not have the high-profile commencement addresses they were expecting: former President Bill Clinton and California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, respectively.
Both individuals refuse to cross picket lines or speak while university workers are without a contract. By the way, Nunez was supposed to speak at Cal two years ago, but didn’t because of AFSCME.
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Posted by
Krista Lane on Thursday, October 11, 2007 02:45 pm
First it was the graduate student instructors, now it’s Northern Californian nurses
taking a stand.
Many registered nurses from fifteen hospitals, including Alta Bates in Berkeley and Oakland, are participating in a strike authorized by the California Nurses Association—the registered nurses union—in efforts to achieve a standardized contract with better benefits and pension plans. Other types of nurses are represented by other unions, some of which specifically disallow striking to support other unions’ strikes.
Alta Bates is part of the Sutter Health system, a network of hospitals in Northern California known most recently for attempting to close financially draining hospitals in San Francisco, San Leandro and Santa Rosa. RNs striking all over the Bay Area argue that the non-profit is about making money, not the patients.
We agree that bettering patient care starts with the patients, but that usually starts with having nurses to take care of the patients, instead of picketing on the sidewalk.
Image Source: Frederica Kreitzer, Daily Cal
Nurses Strike at Alta Bates Hospital [Daily Cal]
Nurses walk off jobs at Bay Area hospitals [SF Gate]
Local subtext in Sutter walkout [The Press Democrat]
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