IN SOLIDARITY WITH ACADEMIC STUDENT EMPLOYEES - STATEMENT BY LMC

[image credit: Angela Bi| STAFF- The Daily Californian]

Come Monday, November 14, when/if Academic Student Employees (TAs, Researchers, Readers, Post-docs) go on strike we, of Las Maestras Center for Xicana[x] Indigenous Thought, Art and Social Praxis, stand in complete solidarity with them. In support of our graduate students who serve as LMC community organizers, program coordinators, research assistants, undergraduate advisors and more, LMC will close its doors until the University agrees to bargain in good faith and the labor dispute is equitably settled.

We are aware the strike can present certain inconveniences especially to undergraduates on multiple levels. But, we have been advised that only an absolute shut-down will secure an equitable contract for our co-workers, our students, and our future.

The UC system is a hierarchical capital-motivated corporation, which has, for too long, exploited the labor of the very students it professes to educate. This is a significant moment in UC history where young people are again reminded they can have voz y vota as laborers. La huelga reminds us that this crisis is a structural problem that extends from pre-school to graduate school. One of the worst compensated and the least recognized professional vocations in the state is public school teaching. This holds true for academic student employees in the UC system.

Las Maestras Center grew out of more than four decades directed by the belief that to serve as a “Maestra” is of the highest calling. Please support la huelga in any way you can. Do not let this historical moment pass without your engagement. Join the picket line.

For more info: "Why the Strike?" To donate/volunteer: https://www.fairucnow.org/support/

En solidaridad,

Professor Celia Herrera Rodríguez, Co-Director

Professor Cherríe Moraga, Co-Director