Wednesday, July 1st
10am - 12pm


Link to Recording

Link to slides

Regression & Revitalization of the Academic Labor Movement: The Case of UAW2865

This talk will cover both the history of the UC Student-Workers Union UAW 2865 from before its inception to the present as well as analyze the struggles over different visions of unionism that have occurred in recent years. In just a decade the union has gone from an inert bureaucratic appendage to the corrupt UAW International that stood idly by during the 2009 UC student movement that saw a wave of building occupations that inspired the tactics of Occupy Wall Street to a union that was inspiring grad student unions across the country with its militant contract campaign in 2013- with AWDU chapters being founded at at least 3 other grad student locals across the country – to a union whose leadership who is basically silent during a wildcat strike and whose reputation is marred by a wildly unpopular contract and accusations of bylaws violations to push it through. What are business unionism and social movement unionism; and what role if any did the Janus v. AFSCME decision play in any of this?

This talk will be recorded.