LOS ANGELES — During the fifth week of the historic strike by UC academic workers, hundreds of demonstrators converged on the UCLA campus, shouting for better pay and benefits, and forcing the delay of a regent’s meeting, as picketers said they were determined to show that winter break will not erode their momentum.
The striking student workers rallied outside UCLA’s Luskin Center, where the UC Regents were scheduled to meet Wednesday morning. They shouted “Shut it down!” and jammed along with Tom Morello, former guitarist with Rage Against the Machine, who led the assembly in songs that included lines like, “Sí, se puede!” and “Hold the line!”
It was the latest action in the protracted standoff over wages and other issues between UC leaders and 36,000 striking academic student workers as the 10-campus system embarked on winter break and stalled negotiations spurred the union to agree with UC’s request to bring in an independent mediator.
