Guidance on March 4 Activities for UC-AFT NSF and Librarians

The UC-AFT encourages our members and supporters and the UC workers whom werepresent to support the March 4 Day of Action. However, you do need to beaware that there are some restrictions on what you can and cannot do tosupport March 4 activities.

Under Unit 18 and 17 MOUs (contracts), Lecturers and Librarians are notallowed to “withhold their labor” in support of the strike and day of action. You maynot simply refuse to show up at work unless you honestly feel that crossinga picket line would put you at physical risk for your personal safety. Don'tmisread this provision as a purely subjective issue. Should you choose thisoption, you might well be forced to defend it in court and capricious use ofthis “excuse” might put your job in jeopardy.

However, you should also be aware of the following:

1) Nothing in our MOU or any other rules at UC prohibit you from exercisingyour First Amendment rights to speak out and/or demonstrate your support forthe Day of Action. If it does not conflict with your work obligations, youhave every right to walk on a picket line, write leaflets, speak out to yourcolleagues and/or students about your views on labor relations and/or budgetpriorities at UC in general.  You can go to the picket line or do otherstrike support work on your breaks or when you are not teaching. You canwear buttons or tee shirts or express your views in a variety of media.

2) You may not cancel your classes, or duty on Library desks, etc. on March4 (unless, of course, you go to class and no one shows up). As an“instructor of record” for your class, you have the right and theresponsibility to decide about the best way to deliver instruction to yourstudents. You may decide, for example, that the picket lines will make itdifficult for your students to get to class and, therefore, you might decideto move your classes off campus. You could also simply meet outside at theentrance of campus on the other side of the picket line, if weather allows.(Unless your course is about labor issues or one of the many issues raisedby the broader walkout, I would not suggest that you require your studentsto meet on the picket line). However, as the instructor of record, you dohave the right to decide if the issues raised in the strike are directlyrelevant to what you are teaching.

3) What you may not do under your MOU is to urge other faculty or staff towithhold their labor or withhold your own. You simply must do the best youcan to meet your teaching or work obligations.

4) You can expect various emails and missives from the Administrationmaking a variety of threats if you don't meet your class in its regularlocation and time. They may suggest that there are “liability issues” if youdon't meet in a regular classroom. As long as you exercise reasonable carein where your class meets (not in the middle of a freeway please!), and aslong as you are doing your best to deliver instruction to your studentsunder the difficult conditions that a strike/walkout presents, you will notbe liable for anything that you would not be liable for in teaching a classin your normal classroom. As long as you make a reasonable attempt to meetyour class, you cannot be fired or disciplined in any way. If you think youare receiving any threats about your responsibilities during the strike and day of

action that are not being received by everyone else, please let your UC-AFT Field

Representative or a local officer know about it.

5) Please follow the above guidelines. If you do try to withhold your labor,please know that the UC-AFT does not encourage it (we face substantial finesif we do), and you are putting yourself at risk, since your contract doesnot protect sympathy strikes.

Within these guidelines, please do everything you can to support the broadereducational, social justice, and labor issues raised by this walkout.

Mike RotkinUC-AFT Vice President for Organizing

mrotkin@ucaft.org