union\u2019s top priorities<\/a> in its new contract are fair pay, job security and increased protections for international workers.<\/p>\nProtesters\u2019 signs read \u201c40,000 Strong\u201d in reference to the 40,000 UC workers represented by the union across campuses. Lauren Magdaleno, a UAW SSAP member and health educator with University Health Services, led a march from her place of work to Upper Sproul Plaza. She explained that the union is currently bargaining for more than 30 demands, including childcare.<\/p>\n
\u201cChildcare is one of the most expensive things that you might come across here in the Bay,\u201d Magdaleno said. \u201cI\u2019m hoping that that\u2019s something we can get a little movement on and have better benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rally featured four speakers, all UAW members bringing attention to different demands the union has with the university. The first speaker, international worker and second-year graduate student research assistant\u00a0 in chemistry and physics Rahoul Banerjee Ghosh, conducts research with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on clean energy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Banerjee Ghosh said they came to campus to turn climate change research into technology to \u201ctackle the greatest challenges facing our planet.\u201d They called out campus for staying silent as federal action has threatened climate change research with funding cuts and deported the international students who make this research possible.<\/p>\n
They also noted that two of campus\u2019s five recent Nobel Prize winners were immigrant scientists and urged campus to acknowledge immigrant campus workers in the same way. Banerjee Ghosh emphasized the pressure of managing costs of basic needs such as rent and food, on top of fearing for their immigration status.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re willing to take credit for the work but not take care of the workers,\u201d Banerjee Ghosh said. \u201cEvery international worker at UC is facing the same impossible choice between seeing our loved ones or risking not being able to return to our jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another RPSP speaker highlighted the UC system\u2019s complicity with National Institutes of Health federal funding cuts to research and what potential layoffs would look like for UC workers.<\/p>\n
Job insecurity from research grant cuts combined with cost of living and student loans left this speaker\u2019s colleagues distressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no question (that) UC leadership needs to work with the 40,000 workers who have the power to protect and expand their funding, not fall to the federal government\u2019s attacks on research,\u201d the speaker said.<\/p>\n
The crowd marched to Memorial Glade at approximately 4:30 p.m., led by volunteers carrying banners that read \u201cOur rights, Our future.\u201d As they passed California Hall, protesters were urged to chant louder to get administrators\u2019 attention.<\/p>\n
One last speaker, graduate student researcher Tanzil Chowdhury, highlighted the critical link between the accomplishments the UC system prides itself on and the thousands of underserved UC workers. He warned that if the university continues to stall a fair contract, workers are ready to vote to authorize a strike.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want UC to provide a world-class education to the next generation of Californians, if you want to secure funding for science and research, if you want to survive, then you don\u2019t stand against the workers who make that possible,\u201d Chowdhury said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of UC Berkeley academic union workers represented by United Auto Workers Local 4811, or UAW 4811, rallied…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[38336,38329,38335,38330,38332,150,143,145,144,38331,38334,26656,38333,38328,15178,14198],"class_list":{"0":"post-63677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-california-hall","9":"tag-iris-rosenblum-sellers","10":"tag-lauren-magdaleno","11":"tag-lawrence-berkeley-lab","12":"tag-memorial-glade","13":"tag-nobel-prize","14":"tag-oakland","15":"tag-oakland-headlines","16":"tag-oakland-news","17":"tag-rahoul-banerjee-ghosh","18":"tag-research-and-public-service-professionals","19":"tag-sproul-plaza","20":"tag-student-services-and-advising-professionals","21":"tag-tanzil-chowdhury","22":"tag-uaw-4811","23":"tag-university-health-services"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}