This is Jacobin Radio. I'm Suzy Weisman. Today we talk to UAW, that's United Auto

Worker 2865 strikers, Sarah Mason and Jack Davies of UC Santa Cruz and Jonathan Guy at UC

Berkeley about the University of California's strike, the largest strike ever in American

higher education. It's crunch time for the UC system as term ends and grades are due.

The academic workers are demanding significant pay increases, childcare reimbursements and

the remission of non-residential supplemental tuition. They recognize that this strike

has the potential to change the existing model of university education. We'll get their

analysis, experience and hopes for the strike. I then talk to Michael Goldfield about

the showdown in rail. President Biden pushed through a bill forcing a contract on 115,000

overworked and exhausted rail workers who have been fighting for paid sickly. The demand

for paid sick days is a placeholder for all the quality of life issues that railroad workers

are facing after years of austerity while the rail companies enjoyed record profits.

Biden invoked the 100-year-old Railway Labor Act to avert the strike asking Congress

to impose a settlement and compel the workers to accept a contract. Labor historian Mike

Goldfield explains why this arcane act to prevent transportation workers from striking

came into being and why it's still an effect. All this when our program returns in just

a moment.

This is Jacobin Radio. I'm Suzy Weisman and today it's all about the strike at UC. I'm

really pleased to be able to finally do this. For those who have noticed, there's 48,000

UC academic workers on strike. It's now, the strike is now a month old. It began in

November, November 14th. And this is the largest and most important strike ever in American

higher education. Campuses across California and there are 10 UC campuses have been brought

...