Day 78

As with the September 24 walkout, the Director of Human Resources issued a letter to campus managers explaining the university's position and policies about the campus UPTE strike scheduled to begin tomorrow. Again, the university finds the strike illegal, and uses the same sentence as last time about expectations: "...All employees are expected to report to work and meet their job obligations." Here is the HR director's statement on the campus' stance on the strike: 

It is the University's position that the UPTE strike is not protected under HEERA as the parties have not yet completed the bargaining process, much less the statutorily mandated impasse process.  While UPTE has filed unfair practice charges, which the University believes are unfounded, the mere filing of a charge does not confer a legal right to strike and therefore there is no legal basis for this activity by UPTE.

Posters are all over my building, and I assume all over campus. Professional posters from UPTE (in conjunction with the CUE and other supportive campus and union groups), as well as separate flyers from student groups. The student groups see the campus-wide strike as a protest against fee hikes, which will be decided upon by the Regents this week. The UPTE posters also include protest against further layoffs and cuts to student services, which they list as other considerations on the table for the Regents. According to the union posters, the schedule is as follows:

• November 18: Walkout
• November 19: Reclaim
• November 20: Escalate

A time and location (Sproul Plaza) for daily rallies is included under each date, as well as a scheduled meeting to discuss what they'll do the next day. They are mysteriously vague about the loaded word "escalate." They say, "If regents increase our fees, lay us off, and cut our pay, we will have no choice but to escalate our actions." Does this mean they will yell louder like when the phone company won't remove an erroneous late fee? Extend the strike into next week? March on the Regents' meeting with pitchforks? I hope to listen in on the rallies/meetings since I will NOT be on vacation this time. If it reaches this point of escalation on Friday, I will certainly let you know the answer about what that actually means.