On a gray Monday morning in Berkeley, Connor Jackson, bullhorn in hand, shepherded University of California graduate student workers into buses headed for a rally in Sacramento. He’s been on strike since mid-November along with 48,000 workers in what is the largest labor stoppage in the history of American higher education.
Jackson, 29, is a PhD student in the Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics and a member of Student Researchers United (SRU), one of three separate locals within the United Auto Workers that represent UC workers. “I saw how difficult it is for graduate students to afford to live anywhere in California,” Jackson said, describing his motivations to unionize.
