The United Auto Workers union has worried many UCLA faculty and students with its announcement that University of California teaching assistants are going on strike this week. However, the strike will not begin today. Union members will be notified 24 hours prior to any strike action, according to an e-mail sent out by union leadership.
Students are concerned about the strike’s potentially negative effects on their preparation for term papers and upcoming final exams. Professors are apprehensive about continuing classes without severely altering class structure.
Teaching assistants base strike participation on alleged unfair labor practices of the university system. The UC has responded by saying the allegations are misleading, especially since it is currently addressing UAW concerns.
Executive Vice Chancellor Daniel Neuman has expressed his desire that classes be disrupted as little as possible. Since finals will continue as scheduled, he encouraged professors to make necessary adjustments to prepare students for them.
One professor, Carlo Montemagno of the bioengineering department, plans to do just as Neuman encouraged.
“We will make adjustments to keep up the high quality of education at UCLA,” he said.
Keith Stolzenbach, who co-teaches the general education cluster Global Environment: A Multicultural Perspective, also intends to keep everything as normal as possible.
If any of his course’s teaching assistants go on strike, Stolzenbach said he means to continue lectures as usual. He plans to arrange for alternate individuals to complete teaching assistant duties as well.
“We would certainly adjust,” he said. “We would potentially combine two discussion sections into one, or have a professor lead a discussion to deal with the absence of our TAs, but regardless, discussions would continue.”
Past solutions addressing the absence of teaching assistants included extending deadlines. Such solutions would be difficult to implement during this strike because of its proximity to final exams.
Many students are upset that the upcoming strike is scheduled so closely to the end of the quarter.
“It’s unfair to subject students to losing their TAs so close to finals,” said first-year electrical engineering student Annie Kang.
“It seems selfish to me that (teaching assistants) chose to when they did,” she added.
Stolzenbach believes teaching assistants are not acting selfishly and that they are exercising their right to strike in a responsible manner.
“Most teaching assistants are considerate of student needs. Most attempt to minimize effects on students by grading papers and such before the strike,” he said.
According to union e-mails, TAs were advised to submit course and grading materials to their departments before the beginning of the strike.
In addition, the union is discouraging “partial striking,” which entails TAs performing any scope of their duties. Doing so would render a TA ineligible for strike benefits, including pay equal to half of one’s weekly earnings, which would be available if the strike reaches an eighth day. However, TAs have been permitted to perform schoolwork, just not their teaching responsibilities.
Some teaching assistants have followed this advice, choosing not to make student accommodations on the eve of the strike. One teaching assistant for the general education cluster History of Social Thought informed his students he plans to observe the entirety of the strike. He did not offer to grade papers beforehand or to be available during finals week.