UAW Academic Workers Strike Solidarity Statement
Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 4:37PM
Dear Media Fields VIII participants,
As you may have seen, on Monday, November 14, Academic Workers represented by UAW2865, UAW5810, and SRU-UAW initiated a UC system-wide strike in response to the University’s unlawful and bad-faith conduct at the bargaining table.
The Media Fields editorial collective and its biennial conference are headed entirely by UCSB graduate students affected by and actively participating in the strike. In accordance with the union-sanctioned stop work order, we have withheld our labor as student researchers, teaching assistants, and readers, and we have instead spent the last few days on the picket line with our graduate colleagues. While we hoped that the UC would negotiate in good faith and settle a fair contract prior to the Media Fields VIII start date, this swift resolution now seems unlikely.
Though we have stopped doing work on behalf of the university, our picket line does not include self-directed or collaborative graduate research like this conference. Conference organizers have spoken with campus union leadership, and they confirmed that the union supports the continuation of independent graduate research and our conference falls within that sphere.
The Media Fields editorial collective does not directly report to the university or its academic departments; rather, our graduate members work solely with and for one another. Further, this conference represents hundreds of hours of unpaid graduate labor and independent research, from our organizing committee and participants alike. We thus feel that it is especially imperative to move forward with our virtual conference in fierce solidarity with the UAW Academic Workers strike.
Media Fields VIII provides a key opportunity to prosper cross-campus graduate communication, support individual projects and research, and ultimately spread strike awareness and community solidarity.
For more detailed information about the strike, bargaining, and how you can lend your support, check out www.fairucnow.org or the links below:
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