AFT Solidarity Statement

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We, members of the Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies (CCAS) at UCLA, unanimously stand in solidarity with the UC-AFT whose members, after working without a contract for two years, are striking to challenge what they charge are bad faith bargaining and unfair labor practices. Lecturers are deeply valued and essential to the functioning of our department. Their labor is central to our students’ learning and well-being, as their teaching and mentoring help us achieve the public mission of the university. As ladder rank faculty, we denounce the neoliberalization of the university and the precarization of academic labor. We support dignified working conditions and compensation for all members of the University of California.

We, the undersigned faculty, commit to supporting UC-AFT’s demands and respecting their picket line which means withholding our academic labor through canceling our classes, meetings, and office hours or holding them on the picket line on November 17 and 18, 2021. We pledge to not retaliate for participation in the strike and stand in solidarity with all students and staff who choose to do the same.

 

In solidarity,

 

Leisy Abrego, Professor and Chair

Maylei Blackwell, Professor and Vice Chair

Karina Alma, Assistant Professor

Eric Avila, Professor

Matt Barreto, Professor

Floridalma Boj Lopez, Assistant Professor

Genevieve Carpio, Associate Professor

Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Professor

Laura Chávez-Moreno, Assistant Professor

Jason De León, Professor

Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, Associate Professor

Gaye Theresa Johnson, Associate Professor

Reynaldo Macías, Professor

Robert Chao Romero, Associate Professor

Veronica Terriquez, Professor

Abel Valenzuela, Professor and Director of the Institute on Research and Labor

Charlene Villaseñor Black, Professor

Chris Zepeda-Millan, Associate Professor