[ip26]

There seems to be a history of strikes at UCSC alienating the rank and file.

Strikes are supposed to squeeze the employer, e.g. because their factory isn't producing and the employer is losing face & sales to competitors.

All the strikes at UCSC seem to wind up squeezing the student body, which 1) doesn't call the shots and 2) is paying fixed costs.

Last one I remember was a transit strike where the strikers closed all entrances & exits to the campus. That did not win them many supporters.

[bsder]

Congratulations, you have both fallen into the position that the University wants you to.

UCSC can easily marshal the resources to get your grades, get you graduated, etc. The fact that UCSC chooses not to in order to divide you from the strikers is intentional.

People don't go on strike because it's fun or popular. And strikes are not meant to be convenient.

[kortilla]

> UCSC can easily marshal the resources to get your grades

Unless UCSC is hiring water boarding specialists, no they can’t. The TA refused to give them up.

[saagarjha]

What would the college have done if the TA had decided to quit?

[davrosthedalek]

What would the college have done if 54 TAs had quit... It's much easier to fix one missing TA, be redoing the grading work if necessary, than for 54. And if a TA quits, I would expect the TA to release the grades as far as they have been determined at the point of quitting.

[bsder]

1) A TA can get hit by a bus tomorrow. What do you do in that case? You can just do that here.

2) Waterboarding and torture have been demonstrated over and over to be ineffective. That mere idea that they might ever be a useful tool is pernicious and needs to be denounced even when said in jest.

[strbean]

So the only workers at a university who have any capacity to effectively strike are the employees in the admissions department?

[ip26]

And now you've just figured out why in labor disputes it's so important/valuable for everyone to be in the union.

(Also, don't forget about the employees in billing, grant handling, the professors bringing in big grants, etc)

Back in the day of unions, strikes were not about making a statement, they were literally bending the employer to the will of the workers with brute force. The workers- collectively- held the power. Unresolved strikes literally sunk companies. It feels like that's been forgotten somewhat.