GEO Stands in Solidarity with Grad Student Workers of GSA UAW at UCSC

The Graduate Employees’ Organization at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (GEO IFT/AFT Local 6300) stands in solidarity with the graduate student workers of GSA UAW Local 2865 at the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC), who since December 18th have been withholding grades in a bold and unprecedented wildcat strike for a fair Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) to their pay. On January 6th, the striking grad workers were joined in their struggle against UCSC’s austerity measures by the carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and other skilled workers of AFSCME Local 3299, who are on strike to protest consistently low pay and the university’s union-busting hiring practices. 

 Despite four years of trying to engage with the UCSC administration about a COLA, during which the average rent in Santa Cruz has increased by more than 50%, the administration has repeatedly dismissed grad worker’s demands or offered incremental wage increases that would not begin to cover the real costs of living. Many of these workers are severely rent burdened, with over two thirds of their pay going directly to pay for housing, and this drastic wildcat strike reflects the severity of their situation. During an action on December 10th, UCSC grad workers held a banner that read “ACADEMIA KILLS US.” With new research shedding light on the direct links between wages and mental and physical health, we have to take this slogan literally, and resist every attack that neoliberal universities attempt against the hard-fought gains of graduate worker unionism.  

We at the GEO believe that housing is a fundamental human right. Many of our members are also rent burdened, and it is absurd that graduate workers--without whom the university could not function--are digging themselves into debt or even putting their physical lives in danger in the struggle to keep a roof over their heads. The UCSC graduate student strike has the support of many faculty and undergraduate students within their institution, as well as broad support from unions and organizations in the U.S. and abroad, and we proudly stand with them in the fight for fair compensation and accessible housing.      

The Graduate Employees’ Organization, AFT/IFT Local 6300, AFL-CIO, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, represents approximately 2,700 Teaching and Graduate Assistants on the UIUC Campus. In November 2009 and in February 2018, over 1,000 GEO members and allies participated in a strike to secure a fair contract and more accessible UIUC campus. With an active presence in the community, the GEO continues to work for high-quality and accessible public education in Illinois.

For more information, please contact geo@uigeo.org. More information can also be found on GEO’s website at www.uiucgeo.org.

Twitter: @geo_uiuc

Facebook: @uigeo @geosolcomm

Instagram: @geo_uiuc