12/14/98 GRAD STUDENTS VS. CALIFORNIA

GRAD STUDENTS VS. CALIFORNIA

THE MIGHTY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA may soon be paralyzed by striking grad students. On Dec. 1, 9,000 graduate teaching assistants at eight UC campuses mounted their first systemwide walkout, mainly aimed at gaining recognition for their union.
Grad students, who conduct about 60% of undergraduate instruction, have mounted unsuccessful strikes at individual UC campuses before. But this is the first coordinated strike across the state.
If the walkout succeeds, it will be a major blow to the university, which has waged a legal battle against efforts by the students to unionize since 1983. The university says it refuses to recognize the union, which is affiliated with the United Auto Workers, because its members are primarily students, not employees. But other grad-student unions have recently won bargaining rights at the Universities of Massachusetts, Iowa, and Kansas.
Beyond the issue of union recognition, Ricardo Ochoa, president of the union's Berkeley local, notes that the academics walking the line basically want the same thing that other workers want: better working conditions and more money.
EDITED BY ROBERT McNATT
By Aaron Bernstein