[During the strike] I loved the idea that we were building community. I liked meeting others in my department. I loved the idea that we would fight for a livable wage. I'm a former foster youth, formerly homeless, first-gen student with no family support. I decided to go to graduate school because I wanted to do research that was community-oriented, which was my first mistake. Since then I've been in such financial precarity that I can't survive like this. I'm lucky to have a supportive partner; how many of us stay in abusive relationships because we can't afford to move or live alone? I know one girl off the top of my head in this situation. I got involved in the union and went headfirst into the strike because I thought we could fight for a more livable contract for ALL. I'll be mastering out in the spring. I can't be financially dependent any longer, it's bringing up PTSD from not being able to rely on myself.
"As the president of the GSA [Grad Student Association], I have heard a plethora of horror stories from students barely making ends meet. I’m on strike because, to put it quite bluntly, UC admin does not believe that we struggle as much as we do and they refuse to help. My colleagues and I on the GSA have worked endlessly to communicate with upper-level administrators about students living in cars, staying with abusive partners to avoid paying higher rent, parents being unable to care for their children, and other such situations.
Administrators try, but they often don’t listen. I am a first generation graduate student, and even my low salary is more than both my parents make. I send them money to help them with their mortgage bills. One time, I ran out of money to make rent because my landlord increased the rate and I had to ask my parents to send me money. This incident left me with a deep sense of shame, because I felt like it was my job to be helping out my parents financially, not for them to have to be worried about helping me.
I work on campus and I teach classes at a community college to make ends meet. When bringing up problems with money to admin as the GSA president, their only solution is to refer students to slug support. This is a great campus support program that gives out amounts between 50-800 dollars to help students meet their basic needs. Slug Support is great, but it is not going to help bail out a grad student who can’t make a monthly rent of $1,400-$2,500 dollars. In addition, there have been issues where the UC ’s payroll system doesn’t distribute paycheck money on time, which is a situation that happened to me this past summer when I was employed as a GSR [Grad Student Researcher] If we win a decent contract, many first generation and POC students have the most to gain, as statistically speaking, especially at this campus, they remain the most economically disadvantaged group of graduate students.
What I enjoy the most about the picket line here at this campus is the sense of community. For many of us, graduate school is a bit of a solitary pursuit - you do your own research, you visit with your advisor on your own, you write your dissertation alone. The picket line here is such a wonderful source of community and a way to let each other know that we have one another’s backs, that we will support each other emotionally even in tough times. We are, to different extents, going through the same tough economic struggles and the mental pain that comes with that, but being together with one another gives us the ability to hope and work towards more.
Ros, Slavic Languages and Literature PhD Student, UC Berkeley
“I chose to attend UC Berkeley over a wealthy peer institution because none of the faculty who interviewed me here broke federal law in the process. This was exciting for me, accustomed as I am to near-constant frustrating, humiliating, and sometimes hilariously funny violations of my legal rights as a disabled worker in academia. The initial euphoria I felt at the clearing of that distressingly low bar, however, dissipated on contact with the day-to-day reality of UCB vs. My Body.
Example: the overhead lights in the building where I teach are old and outmoded. The flickering screws with my damaged nervous system. I currently take five different drugs— and one biologic injection— to manage the pain, nausea, and vertigo I face every time I show up. The “reasonable accommodation” I got, after months of expensive back-and-forths with my neurologist for medical documentation (which the law does not require, but our contract does!): the boss has graciously agreed to let me wear sunglasses inside. Which I was already doing. Wow. Thanks.
Situations like mine are common, and filing individual grievances that don’t even set a legal precedent for others is not enough. Any worker can become disabled at any time— especially with covid in play. To be safe at work, we all need a contract that will actually force the boss to update the [expletive] buildings— lights, ventilation, and all. This contract doesn’t do anything for me. I’m voting no.”
Jillian, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology PhD Student, Pictured with Atticus (Her Dog), UC Santa Cruz
“Santa Cruz is such an expensive place; when I initially got into the program, I didn’t know how I would be able to attend. A lot of people struggle to find adequate housing. Some students I know have found themselves in dangerous housing situations, and one even had to take a quarter off and delay their progress in the program because they couldn’t find a place to live. The UC loves to advertise their commitment to diversity and their support of women in STEM, but they are unwilling to address the root cause behind why diverse students struggle to complete their degrees: financial insecurity and a lack of proper wages and childcare stipends. I’m on the picket in hopes of addressing these labor inequalities. We have great people here, and we all look out for each other and support each other in this strike.”
Juliana, Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology PhD Student, UC Santa Cruz
As a black, queer fem from an immigrant family, I feel that it is my responsibility to stand in solidarity with my colleagues at these intersections. I know what it's like to have and lose money, to work multiple jobs to make ends meet, to move to a country where your literal presence is policed 24/7, I understand what it's like to be ignored, degraded, and silenced. My mother, my grandmother and all my ancestors stand with me as I, we, stand with those who struggle in their own way, to gain recognition, validity and the right to live while actively harming no one. Each of us grads, though we are diverse in ourselves and our experiences, are all fighting for fair wages, excellent childcare, and protections for students with disability, as well as the rights of international, POC, and queer students. In 2019 I participated in the Wildcat strike, it was disheartening and frightening being present as admin targeted undocumented, POC and international students who were part of organizing and leading the Wildcat Strikes.
This was shocking though not surprising given the UC history of disrupting student strikes. Prior to the Wildcat Strikes, the BSU (Black Student Union) protested and had sit-ins in Kerr Hall. During that time unsupportive admin in the building demonized Black students (largely undergrads) and claimed that the BSU protestors made them feel threatened and unsafe. Our Black and brown students were just demanding diversity training for all incoming undergraduates, and better housing support for black undergrads. Nothing much came from that as to this day, all demands that students won haven't been met. It's shameful that students have been traumatized while unsupportive admin feel justified in their oppression of their own students. They don't even see it as oppression, they see it as just how things have always been, and they'd like to keep it that way. Sound familiar? I believe that this attitude greatly contributed to how the UC responded to us throughout the Wildcat strike.
During the Wildcat strikes admin threatened undocumented graduate AND undergraduate students with deportation, told international students that their visas would be revoked if they participated in labor organizing, and supplied police that arrested and detained protestors. Witnessing the university’s actions in 2019 has brought me to the picket again. We cannot let the University think that they can traumatize and demean us into submission. Did that strike scar me? Yes, but not because we were fighting for our rights and the rights of those who come after us, but because of what the University was willing to do to maintain the status quo.
At the end of the day, many grad students are honest hard working people who saw graduate school as a valid pathway to a career and financial security. We saw it as a way out of poverty, a way to financial stability. But here we are, again, with little changed, asking for the bare minimum from one of the largest employers AND landlords in the state of California. But it hasn't all been horrid. The best moments on the picket for me have been seeing my grad student mentees from the Doctoral Summer Bridge Program (a retention initiative to serve POC grad students) come out to the picket. We are a small community here but we have a lot of power that stems from the love and care we have for one another. It's also been amazing seeing undergrads supporting graduates. Undergrads were pivotal to the Wildcat strike, and are critical to this current strike. Seeing the love and solidarity gives me hope, this keeps me going (but so does my cat Clove the Pumpkin Queen) and I hope it keeps you fighting too.
