Justice for UC Workers

This afternoon, 7 of my co-workers and I went to a rally to demand that UC Berkeley (and the rest of the UC system) pay its janitors and other university workers the money it owes them. Despite the fact that UC Berkeley is one of the most prestigious universities in the country, its janitors make anywhere from $5-10 less than an hour than janitors at other local community colleges. After a year of fighting with the University--including rallies, a strike and lobbying state senators, assemblymembers and Gov. Shwarzenegger--the state of California earmarked $8.5 million dollars of the state budget specifically to pay low-wage UC workers. But the University still refuses to spend it on raising wages and reducing workloads for its workers.

To put pressure on UC President Dynes, the UC workers union, AFSCME, staged a march and civil disobedience this afternoon. Here are some pictures from what was a fantastic, high energy action, with 40 people getting arrested after blocking the intersection of Telegraph and Bancroft. (For those of you who know the area near the campus, try to imagine Telegraph and Bancroft without car or foot traffic. It was seriously creepy, like being in a ghost town.)