* Faculty letter urging that charges against students be dropped 4-2-14

The following letter was sent to EVC Galloway and Chancellor Blumenthal today, April 2, 2014, on the first of the two day strike by UAW 2865. UAW members, including union leader Josh Brahinsky, were arrested on the picket line in Santa Cruz this morning. As many as twenty undergraduate supporters were arrested as well. The union called for a peaceful, legal strike in protest of management’s unlawful intimidation of student-workers.

* What faculty can do to support the graduate student union strike on April 2-3, 2014

We encourage you to read the letter below from the graduate student union (UAW 2865) organizing committee, with details of the strike the union is planning for April 2 and 3. The letter includes suggestions about what faculty can do to support the strike. The Board of the Faculty Association supports our graduate students' demands. We understand that an action of this kind during the first week of class is an inconvenience for faculty and for students, but feel that by supporting the graduate students at this time we can help them in their struggle for the fair and just working conditions that are the necessary conditions for our collective educational mission.

* SCFA letter to Labor Relations in response to the new Coursera contract 3-10-14

The SCFA wrote this response to the office of Labor Relations letter in which the University provides us with a revised Coursera contract. We were surprised by the language in this contract. We had hoped that the University’s new contract would address the issues that we have all raised. We were under the impression that there was some consensus between us about fundamental issues. The contract between UCSC and Coursera is not inappropriate. The issue is the contract that faculty are asked to sign with the University.