San Diego, CA
UC San Diego workers plan Monday strike as result of protest crackdowns
SAN DIEGO (CNS) – A rolling strike by unionized academic workers upset about the University of California’s response to pro-Palestinian protests at various campuses will spread to three more campuses next week, including UC San Diego, union officials said Friday.
According to United Auto Workers Local 4811, workers will hit the picket lines Monday morning at UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara, with UC Irvine workers joining the lines Wednesday.
The wave of strikes began at UC Santa Cruz, then spread this week to UCLA and UC Davis.
According to the union, UAW represents 8,000 at UC San Diego and 5,000 workers at UC Irvine along with 3,000 at UC Santa Barbara. The union has a total of 31,500 members at all six of the universities now targeted by the strikes.
“For the last month, UC has used and condoned violence against workers and students peacefully protesting on campus for peace and freedom in Palestine,” Rafael Jaime, president of UAW Local 4811, said in a statement. “Rather than put their energies into resolution, UC is attempting to halt the strike through legal procedures. They have not been successful, and this strike will roll on. We are united in our demand that UC address these serious ULPs, beginning with dropping all criminal and conduct charges that have been thrown at our members because they spoke out against injustice.”
UAW Local 4811 is asking the UC schools to give amnesty to all academic employees and students who faced arrest or disciplinary actions for protesting at campuses. The union also wants the students to have guarantees of freedom of speech and political expression on campus and is asking for researchers to be able to opt out of funding sources tied to the Israeli Defense Force.
Students at UCSD established a “Gaza Solidarity” encampment on the campus’ Library Walk on May 1.
Dani Miskell, Reporter
The UCSDivest Coalition, organizers of the encampment campaign, called on UCSD to “end their silence and publicly condemn the destruction of over 80% of schools and all 12 universities in Gaza in a systematic dismantling of infrastructure that UN experts have termed scholasticide,” a statement from the organization read.
On May 6, the California Highway Patrol encircled a group of protesters at the encampment, taking down tents and arresting 65 protesters, along with one injury.
Morgen Chalmiers, a UCSD student and one of the protest organizers, described the arrests as a violent action against peaceful students.
“Today, we saw UCSD administration willfully endanger communities of color, undocumented individuals, and other marginalized groups, whom we know are at a disproportionate risk of state violence,” Chalmiers said. “Today, we also witness the invasion of Rafah by the Israeli Occupation Forces, who train San Diego police, and we recognize the ties between militarism, police violence, and repression on our campus and the ongoing genocide in Palestine.”
Authorities declared the encampment an unlawful assembly at about 5:45 a.m. Monday. Officers ordered the protesters to leave.
Chancellor Pradeep Khosla released a statement Sunday calling the protest an “illegal encampment,” and that the tents on Library Walk pose “an unacceptable safety and security hazard on campus.”
On May 8, more than 1,000 protesters marched at UCSD as a continuation of the ongoing demonstrations in support of the people of Gaza, as well as condemnations of school administration following the arrests.
Again, on May 10, UCSD students and faculty staged a walkout which saw more than 100 members of the UCSD community chant and march to Chancellor Pradeep Khosla’s home off campus. Many wore keffiyehs or academic dress and carried signs calling on the university to sever financial ties with Israel.
ABC 10News
The UC system has blasted the union’s allegations and filed unfair labor practice complaints of its own, saying the union’s labor contract has a no-strike provision and that the union’s demands are outside the scope of union labor issues. The university has also rejected calls for amnesty.
“We are disheartened that UAW continues publicly escalating its unlawful strike in violation of its contracts’ no-strike clause and encouraging its members to disrupt and harm the ability of our students to navigate finals and other critical year-end activities successfully,” UC officials said in a statement Friday. “UAW’s goal to `maximize chaos and confusion’ has come to fruition, creating substantial and irreparable impacts on campuses and impacting our students at a crucial time of their education. We are hopeful PERB (Public Employment Relations Board) will intervene and ask the court to end this precedent-setting, unlawful action.”
The state’s Public Employment Relations Board previously declined the university’s request for an injunction that would have blocked the strike, but UC officials said the board issued a complaint against the union saying the walkout is “contrary to the no-strike clauses in their collective bargaining agreements.” Union officials said PERB has also called for both sides to meet and discuss the issues, forcing the university to the table rather than just seeking an injunction.
The union represents teaching assistants, readers, tutors, student researchers and academic researchers.
The San Diego Community College District said Monday it is battling a major cyberattack that began on Saturday and led the system to take some internet, email, websites and registration platforms offline while it is in the midst of enrolling students for summer classes.
“The attack was detected immediately by the district’s IT security systems and no data has been compromised,” said Jack Beresford, a spokesperson for the district.
“All the district’s (four) colleges remain open and most classes are continuing as scheduled. However, some operations such as bookstores and cafeterias may be closed as are some offices with employees working remotely,” he said. “The district is keeping students and employees informed via text, updates on the SDCCD Safe app, Canvas, and social media.”
About 60,000 students will take classes during summer sessions at San Diego City, Mesa, Miramar and Continuing Education colleges. Later this month, the district will award its first bachelor’s degree-level diplomas to students studying cybersecurity.
SAN DIEGO, CA — A 12-year-old boy riding an e-bike suffered life- threatening injuries this weekend after colliding with a car in Carmel Valley, according to the San Diego Police Department.
The crash happened in the 5500 block of Del Mar Heights Road at about 5:40 p.m. Saturday, when the boy attempted to make a left turn from the westbound bike lane onto southbound Old Carmel Valley Road and was hit by the front passenger side of a Tesla, police said.
The unidentified boy suffered life-threatening injuries including a fractured collarbone and multiple brain bleeds, which required surgery, police said in a statement.
A 64-year-old man who was driving a 2023 Tesla Model Y westbound in the number one lane of Del Mar Heights Road was not injured and alcohol was not a factor in the collision, police said.
The SDPD’s Traffic Division is handling the investigation. Anyone with information related to the crash was encouraged to call SDPD or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
SAN DIEGO – Thomas Wolfe once wrote you can’t go home again. “You cannot return to the past, childhood, or places you once knew,” he said, “because time, change, and memory alter them.”
That wasn’t true this weekend for Will Venable. The White Sox manager returned to Petco Park where it all began for him as a young player, and it felt like home.
Venable was picked by the Padres in the seventh round of the 2005 draft, and he played there for the first seven-plus years of his nine-year career. Sitting in the visiting dugout down the third-base line, he glanced around at Petco and its familiar surroundings.
He arrived in San Diego in 2008, only four years after the Padres moved from Qualcomm Stadium in Mission Valley to the new $450 million ballpark downtown.
“It was my whole career playing here for the Padres,” Venable said in an interview. “I spent two months with the Rangers and two weeks with the Dodgers. Other than that, my whole career was with the Padres. I grew up in the organization and made my debut. Everything good that happened to me in baseball happened in a Padres jersey.”
He arrived just as veteran Bruce Bochy left for San Francisco and Bud Black took over the club’s reins. Venable played almost eight seasons for Black. Many of his old friends came by to visit on Friday as the Sox opened the three-game series against the Padres, outscoring them 12-2 to win the first two games.
Black is back with the Padres as a front office consultant. Tony Gwynn Jr. is a club broadcaster. Phil Nevin works for the Sox now as a minor-league coordinator. Chris Denorfia is Chicago’s big-league field coordinator.
“I got to see a number of guys,” Venable said. “The big thing about being here at that time was this was a special group, a pleasant group. So, to see Buddy, to see Tony Gwynn, I get to see Nev pretty frequently now that he’s in the organization. It’s been special to see some of those guys.”
The ballpark still looks pretty much the same. Some of the dimensions are different. The video boards have all been upgraded. The neighborhood and downtown skyline beyond and north of the outfield seats is certainly much denser, altering the wind currents.
In Venable’s early years as the Padres struggled on the field and the glow of the new ballpark opening began to fade, home attendance hovered at about 2 million and the Padres averaged about 27,000 a game.
Not now. The ballpark rocks as the Padres challenge the Dodgers for the National League West title and as always short of that for at least a Wild Card playoff berth. Last season, they drew 3.4 million, averaging 42,435 a game, second in the Major Leagues behind the Dodgers in both categories.
This year, they’ve sold out their first 13 home dates, already drawing 752,626 and averaging 41,979, again both figures shy of the Dodgers. It’s not like the old days, Venable acknowledged.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “What [general manager A.J.] Preller and the group have done here, bringing in all these great players and creating this environment has been incredible. More than everything I’m just happy for the fans. After a phase where we had a couple of good years, we were unable to generate the excitement they are creating now.”
It’s a road map for where the now 16-17 White Sox are heading. More wins mean more attention and better attendance.
After 121 and 102 loss seasons, if Venable learned anything from his first year in this job, it’s that it all takes incessant work to turn it all around.
“Oh, I learned something new every single day,” he said. “We learned a ton of meaningful things along the way. There’s been tons of help from baseball ops, which is what I signed up for. I have a great partnership with that group and they’ve been very supportive. Just look around you at what’s happened [in San Diego].”
You can go home again.
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