About 20 undergraduate and graduate students carried a coffin around campus on Wednesday to symbolically mourn what they called the “death” of student and workers rights at the University of California.
The demonstrators protested past tuition hikes, increased class sizes and pay cuts for UC workers, among other issues. They also protested the recent appointment of UC President Janet Napolitano because they do not think her selection was democratic enough.
The protest was organized by the Student Collective Against Labor Exploitation and coordinated with other protests happening across different UC campuses this week, said Sarah Dahnke, a second-year global studies student and member of SCALE who helped organize the protest.
Students commenced their protest at the flagpole near Powell Library around noon. As they walked through campus, the students held multiple “funeral services,” during which they offered eulogies for various students’ and workers’ rights they said UC leadership violated.
“It’s really important to defend the people that make this campus run – students and workers,” said Cody Trojan, vice president of academic affairs for the Graduate Students Association.
Dahnke said the “funeral” for student and worker rights was organized in part to support the UC Student-Workers Union at UCLA and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, a union that represents about 22,000 care workers in the UC.
AFSCME Local 3299 members voted Oct. 28-30 on whether the union should carry out a strike in protest of recent pension reform the University implemented this year.
The University implemented its last contract offer for AFSCME 3299 in July after the two failed to reach an agreement. Under the offer, AFSCME 3299 employees hired before July 1 of this year are required to pay 1.5 percent more in pension contributions, and the University is required to pay 2 percent more for its employees.
The University increased pension contribution rates for itself and all its employees because its retirement plan is significantly underfunded.
The UC’s changes made in July for AFSCME Local 3299 patient care workers included a guaranteed 2 percent increase in wages and a 1.5 percent increase this month. The University’s proposal also included a slightly revised tier of pension benefits for employees hired on or after July 1, 2013.
“A lot of times we see our struggles as separate. We think ‘they’re workers, we’re students,’” Dahnke said. “But if we build our cause in solidarity, we’ll be more successful.”
The University declined to comment on Wednesday’s protest.
After the students marched through Rolfe Hall, Powell Library and Ackerman Union, yelling chants such as “Chop, chop, from the top” and “R.I.P. public education,” they went to Murphy Hall and continued their protest outside the office of Chancellor Gene Block.
When the students were not allowed to enter the office, they sat outside and shared personal stories for more than an hour in front of Block’s office.
The students said they protested what they believe to be low UC worker wages because many of them and their family members work maintenance and service jobs.
“We are so passionate and loud because these issues affect us personally,” said Eliana Buenrostro, a fourth-year gender studies and Chicana/o studies student and SCALE member. “They affect our lives, our families and how much money we will make in the future.”
The protesters said they would support AFSCME Local 3299 if the union votes to strike.
Contributing reports by Chandini Soni, Bruin senior staff, and Julia Raven, Bruin contributor.