Red Emma Reports from the Picket Line

Red Emma is retired, but of course not the retiring type. Still active with his union. Still likes to teach and, better yet, likes to learn. Still shows up at the peace march, rally, sit-in, or picket line, of course. 

Monday’s thrilling rally and march at UC Irvine was an opportunity for this former Lecturer and UC-AFT member to show solidarity with striking workers of the Student Researchers United-United Auto Workers. Everybody there, in a crowd numbering at least 500 at one point, witnessed some gorgeous, strategic, and politically sophisticated organizing by younger folks who really have their shit together. 

Highly disciplined, colorful, exuberant, they are now in week two of the largest higher ed labor action in U.S. history. So with a need to maintain interest, media attention and momentum, Monday had to be good. And it was. Trade union reps from across the County spoke. Undergrads fed us. Musicians and percussionists accompanied. Senate faculty showed up to offer testimonials, and then hosted a teach-in. The turnout for both the noon rally at the flagpole, and a teach-in following it were impressive, but the success of the afternoon march was quantifiable in traffic stopped, even bigger numbers, volume, and the total cooperation of Irvine P.D., which just gave up, let us take the street, and redirected traffic. 

Campus Drive and feeder streets were stopped for an hour. Supporters waved and displayed signs on the pedestrian overpass to the shopping center. Taco Bell workers walked outside to take in the spectacle. 

Of course, this big, peaceful, symbolic gesture offered the administration a glimpse of what further disruption might look like. And it surely buoyed the spirits of strikers themselves, and their supporters. Friends, shutting down the intersection of Campus Drive at West Peltason for teaches a person something. Sitting in the left turn bay chanting with committed activists is a powerful and empowering gestalt, a shared gesture of bravery and confidence. It’s one which might inspire anybody to imagine how much more and more successful we all could be. And which UC must surely apprehend. Throughout, the messaging was loud and clear, by which I mean in unison at high volume and articulated with precision and drums. “What do we want? Fair contract. When do we want it? Now. And if we don’t get it? Shut it down!” 

That afternoon teach-in was organized, by Associate Professor of English Annie McClanahan, who gave a combo history lesson and empowerment session, with personal accounts and deep analysis. McClanahan reviewed the two traditions of labor organizing and bargaining, one around the expectations of so-called institutional resource sharing where workers negotiate with bosses on how large (small) a slice of the pie they get, and the other around achieving what it actually takes to live. Clearly the student workers of SRU-UAW are both ambitious and realistic. They don’t pretend for a moment to be tricked into arguing about pie, or flattered by the so-called prestige of working at the University of California, or tricked by the bogus expectations of someday being somebody’s boss themselves. 

Over and over we heard testimonials from people who could not afford to pay rent, eat, pay for childcare, or make a car payment. There were stories of insecurity from international student workers, achievement and struggle from first gen student workers and, most thrilling and moving of all, pledges that these student workers are striking to change a system that otherwise will only continue to exploit, even to plan on the systemic exploitation of the next generation. They have seen the future and they mean to change it. 

I was lucky to see that better future, and walk toward it, marching and then sitting down together on the public asphalt in a big circle on a democratic Monday afternoon, our voices echoing through the neighborhood, traffic signals turning quietly green to yellow to red with no cars to direct, the warm sun setting over the San Joaquin Marsh, as mass direct action showed us a path, indeed, in our collective journey to get the goods.

About Student Researchers United-UAW

48,000 Academic Workers are ON STRIKE!