Students protest speech amid labor negotiations
Graduates show support for UC workers, who are without a contract
BERKELEY >> UC Berkeley students turned their backs on Chancellor Carol Christ and waved green banners supporting the campus’ service labor union, which recently went on a three-day strike, on Saturday.
The labor negotiation between the flagship UC campus and the union, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, are still ongoing. AFSCME 3299 rejected a new contract proposed by UC in April and went on a three-day labor strike on campus.
Because of the labor strike, Sen. Kamala Harris withdrew as commencement speaker for the class. When senior class president Jessica Li-Jo acknowledged Harris’s withdrawal,
groans and some boos reverberated around California Memorial Stadium.
Soon after Li-Jo’s speech, Christ took the podium to give hers. And the students began to move, turning their backs.
The protest by the students
were organized by a fellow UC Berkeley student on a Facebook page, according to J.J. Lamas, who is graduating with a major in rhetoric.
“I think the students are fed up because many come from marginalized communities,” said Lamas,
who waved Mexico’s flag with his back turned. “The labor workers also come from low-income, Latino communities. This campus is still racist, genderphobic and homophobic.
“This is democracy at work. Let us have our democracy.” Both UC Berkeley and AFSCME 3299 did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment.
Other student protesters demanded that the service workers get better wages and a fairer contact among others. A small fraction of student protesters yelled, “Pay the workers” intermittently during Christ’s speech. Several students who sat behind Christ also held pro-union banners.
About 60 union workers protested outside the stadium before the commencement ceremony began, according to The Daily Californian.
“The ongoing talks so far didn’t make enough of a difference,” said Karla Luna, who is graduating in American studies.
Christ, the university’s 11th and first female chancellor, touched upon Harris’ sudden withdrawal on Monday and the ongoing labor negotiation.
“I understand (Harris’) decision not to attend the ceremony,” said Christ to around 5,800 graduating students. “The staff that this union represents are essential to student life and to the operation of the university, and I very much hope that negotiations may yet be fruitful.”
Christ touched upon many turbulences the university has endured the past year, including in February, when protests and confrontations surrounding the conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos’ planned and canceled speech damaged campus property.
“Complex and thorny issues are not solved by dictate; they reach conclusions through the willing engagement of a diverse, thoughtful and open-minded community,” Christ said. “A Berkeley degree is also a privilege, and with it comes the responsibility of using your education to contribute to a society that needs your energy, your intelligence and your help.”