Strikers cited for trespassing during protest inside UCOP building in Sacramento
United Auto Workers union members protest outside Ackerman Union. (Jeremy Chen/Assistant Photo editor)
By Catherine Hamilton
Dec. 6, 2022 2:53 p.m.
17 United Auto Workers union members were cited for trespassing Monday while hosting a sit-in in the lobby of the University of California Office of the President in Sacramento.
On Monday, four weeks into the academic workers strike, academic workers across the UC system hosted a rally outside the UCOP office in addition to continued protests and sit-ins across campuses, according to a press release from the union. Strikers also protested outside the UCOP office in Oakland and the capital building in Sacramento, according to The Sacramento Bee.
[Related: UC academic workers walk out in largest US strike since 2019]
Ryan King, associate director of media relations for UCOP, said in an emailed statement the University leases the office space and the arrests were not carried out by the UC. The 17 protestors were also released on their own recognizance after they signed arrest forms, he added.
Postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers, who make up around a quarter of the striking workers, reached a tentative contract agreement with the UC on Nov. 29. The remaining 36,000 graduate student workers, including teaching assistants and researchers, are bargaining separately with UC and have not yet reached any agreements.
