Thanks to the over 170 people who participated in the informational CUCFA/UAW Town Hall on Friday.

We got to hear the latest on the bargaining issues and status of the strike from UAW President Rafael Jaime.

In the lively Q and A that followed as we worked together to clarify Senate faculty rights and responsibilities related to the strike, two linked questions seemed most in need of clarification: What is my legal right to respect a picket line, and what is my responsibility toward TAs and researchers I supervise? The CUCFA FAQ working group revised the answer to Question 3 to clarify that Senate faculty have the right to respect the picket line because 1) they are non-managerial, 2) are not subject to a “no strike” clause, and 3) have free speech protections. We added Q 3.5 to clarify that our supervisory responsibilities with regard to Teaching Assistants and researchers do not cancel out our rights to honor a picket line.

We have received inquiries from Senate Faculty confused by the recent communication from the Chair and Vice Chair of Academic Council. We appreciate the Senate’s efforts to remind faculty with supervisory responsibilities with regard to TAs and researchers that they are not to question these workers’ rights to strike nor retaliate against strikers. Where their document muddied the water is in suggesting that such faculty do not have a right to honor the picket line. After multiple consultations, CUCFA is confident that Senate faculty, including those working with TAs and GSRs, have an individual protected right to honor the picket line.

Here is the link to the revised FAQs. The updated questions are pasted below. Please let us know if you have further questions or comments. We realize that the FAQs outline general principles and do not answer many specific questions faculty have about individual circumstances. Let’s keep up the conversation to continue helping each other understand our rights and responsibilities while we show solidarity with the striking students in what national and international news coverage describes as the largest strike in US higher education history.

Q3: Do I have a right to respect a picket line in general and the UAW picket line in particular?

A: Yes. All university employees covered under HEERA, including Senate faculty, even department chairs or heads of similar academic units or programs, are generally non-managerial and also have the right to respect a picket line established by other university employees (for details see Government Code Section 3580.3). This right is acknowledged in the materials that UCOP is currently circulating: “unrepresented non-managerial employees also have a protected right to honor a picket line and/or engage in a sympathy strike” (pg. 3 of their FAQ and Guidance). Senate faculty are not subject to a “no strike” clause and so maintain their right to honor a picket line. University employees also have individual free speech rights that provide additional protections.

You may start honoring the picket line at any point during the strike. However, if you choose to respect the picket line but then decide to return to work, you should only honor the picket line again if the UAW strikes over a new issue. You may always show your solidarity in other ways, including not volunteering to pick up struck labor and being present at the picket during your personal time.

Q3.5: I’ve heard faculty who currently work with TAs or GSRs can’t honor the picket line because they are supervisors. Is this the case?

A: No. The November 10th communication from the Chair and Vice Chair of Academic Council on this topic was not as clear as it could have been about the difference between Senate faculty’s supervisory responsibilities with regard to TAs, GSRs, and other workers, which require that we not ask them about their plans for the strike, and individual rights to respect the picket line. Our supervisory responsibilities regarding teaching assistants and researchers do not cancel out our rights to honor a picket line.