UC Teaching Assistants Win One Against UAW

Earlier this week I reported on teaching assistants at the University of California who were fed up with the arrogance and corruption of their parent union, the United Auto Workers (UAW), who they accused of stealing a recent union election. When it looked like the opposition caucus Academic Workers for a Democratic Union (AWDU) might win the election, the UAW old guard called off the count and fled, leaving the ballots from UCLA and UC Berkeley (a AWDU stronghold) uncounted. Members of AWDU then occupied the headquarters of UAW Local 2865 to demand a fair election.

According to Labor Notes the election committee has now agreed to resume the vote count on Thursday, with a neutral mediator in attendance as a safeguard to ensure a fair count. However, AWDU members say they will continue their sit-in through the count, while UCLA members have set up a live webcam to monitor the abandoned ballots, as well as a Facebook page for the Abandoned Ballot Boxes.

Radioactive Rain Nearly 200 Times Above Safe Limit

During heavy rains two week ago, high levels of radiation were detected in rainwater on the University of California Berkeley campus. According to the Bay Citizen, the radiation levels were 181 times higher than what is considered safe for drinking water. Radiation was also detected in California milk samples, according to the LA Times.

UC Berkeley’s Department of Nuclear Engineering measured Iodine-131 levels of 20.1 Becquerels per liter on the roof of Etcheverry Hall. The federal maximum for drinking water is 0.111 Becquerels per liter. Their report can be read here. The good news is that I-131 decays rapidly, so it is unlikely that anyone received a prolonged exposure.

Today the UCB Dept of Nuclear Engineering published data showing no detectable radiation in tap water. On March 31, they detected I-131 in tap water at 0.024 Becquerels per liter, well below the safety limit. Elevated levels of I-131 were detected in milk (with a “Best if Used by” date of 4/4) that were six times the 0.111Becquerel per liter limit. However, one would have to consume 3,800 liters of this tainted milk to receive the same radiation one would receive from flying across the country.

March 2nd Day of Action in Review

At UC Berkeley, 9 protesters chained themselves together on the ledge of the roof of Wheeler Hall as part of the March 2^nd National Day of Action for Public Education. The activists were demanding that recent tuition hikes be repealed. They also demanded rollbacks of the 32% fee hike implemented in 2009 and an end to police repression of protesters. Their action followed the arrest of 17 students who had occupied Wheeler Hall the night before. The activists eventually came down from the roof after the administration agreed to allow them to meet with the chancellor and offered probation to those arrested rather than jail, fines or expulsion.

At UC Santa Cruz, students rallied on campus on March 2^nd with many staging a sit-in to protest budget cuts. The sit-in lasted over night. The protesters demanded a moratorium on cuts to academic divisions, library or other instructional services; an end to wage and benefits cuts to employees; the re-opening of daycare facilities for students and staff; a 32% cut to administrators’ salaries; and no disciplinary actions against student activists. They also demanded that administration work with them to create an Ethnic Studies Department and Major, something they’ve been fighting for since 1981.

In a related protest on the UCSC campus, about 500 students spelled out the words FREE EDUCATION with their naked bodies on an athletic field.

Growing Student Unrest

Britain is planning to hunt down student protesters who occupied Tory headquarters last week and, according PM David Cameron, prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. Paul McKeever, chair of the Police Federation, said that the man who threw a fire extinguisher from the top of the Millbank building should be “charged with attempted murder.” 

Students protests have been increasing throughout the world. Students have played a major role in the on-going protests in France over Sarkozy’s pension cuts. Students have also protested the deteriorating quality of education, fee hikes, “reform,” and privatization in Germany, Italy, Spain, Denmark, and Argentina. In the U.S., University of California officials want to expel a student for occupying Wheeler Hall during anti-fee hike protests in Berkeley. Students have also recently been punished for protesting at Ben-Gurion University, in Israel, for the rights of school employees.

The British response to last week’s protests may seem excessive. Yet, as governments throughout the world continue to use the economic crisis as an excuse to gut social programs, jobs, education, health and welfare, while bailing out and subsidizing the rich, they are terrified that the masses will awaken violently. Therefore, their response to opposition will be swift, severe and increasingly violent.