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

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

Under Unit 18 and 17 MOUs (contracts), Lecturers and Librarians are not
allowed to “withhold their labor” in support of the strike and day of action. You may
not simply refuse to show up at work unless you honestly feel that crossing
a picket line would put you at physical risk for your personal safety. Don't
misread this provision as a purely subjective issue. Should you choose this
option, you might well be forced to defend it in court and capricious use of
this “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 exercising
your First Amendment rights to speak out and/or demonstrate your support for
the Day of Action. If it does not conflict with your work obligations, you
have every right to walk on a picket line, write leaflets, speak out to your
colleagues and/or students about your views on labor relations and/or budget
priorities at UC in general.  You can go to the picket line or do other
strike support work on your breaks or when you are not teaching. You can
wear 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 March
4 (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 the
responsibility to decide about the best way to deliver instruction to your
students. You may decide, for example, that the picket lines will make it
difficult for your students to get to class and, therefore, you might decide
to move your classes off campus. You could also simply meet outside at the
entrance 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 raised
by the broader walkout, I would not suggest that you require your students
to meet on the picket line). However, as the instructor of record, you do
have the right to decide if the issues raised in the strike are directly
relevant to what you are teaching.

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

4) You can expect various emails and missives from the Administration
making a variety of threats if you don't meet your class in its regular
location and time. They may suggest that there are “liability issues” if you
don't meet in a regular classroom. As long as you exercise reasonable care
in where your class meets (not in the middle of a freeway please!), and as
long as you are doing your best to deliver instruction to your students
under the difficult conditions that a strike/walkout presents, you will not
be liable for anything that you would not be liable for in teaching a class
in your normal classroom. As long as you make a reasonable attempt to meet
your class, you cannot be fired or disciplined in any way. If you think you
are 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 fines
if we do), and you are putting yourself at risk, since your contract does
not protect sympathy strikes.

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

Mike Rotkin
UC-AFT Vice President for Organizing

mrotkin@ucaft.org