In the wake of our court victory, grads hit the picket lines with renewed energy and conviction on Tuesday. Pickets continued across central and north campus, and crafty grads held a second knit in at Haven Hall. The mood was both victorious and determined. As Kelsie, a Middle East Studies grad, put it, “the denial of the injunction is great news. It gives a lot of power to what we’re doing. It goes to show that our organizing efforts so far are working. What the University and the powers that be are trying to do is not sticking. It’s not working. People are realizing that what the University is doing is messed up, and that they’ve got to change. If they actually claim to care about their students, about DEI issues and equality on campus, they’ve got to do something about it. They can’t just keep sitting around.”
Grad workers won a massive victory in court on Monday, with Judge Carol Kuhnke denying the boss' request for an injunction. UM’s attorneys - some of the same that blocked the investigation into the Flint, MI water crisis - asked the judge for an injunction. In doing so, they joined the long and repressive history of labor injunctions and unjust judicial intimidation that reaches back to the 19th century. By proving that forcing workers back on the job through an injunction is an unwarranted abuse of the legal system, our victory is a victory for all working people in Michigan, who now know they can strike without fear of being enjoined.
Grad workers ended the week on a high note, with dancing, good food, camaraderie, and sunshine. Dozens of grads gathered outside of Palmer Commons as bargaining was taking place. Union chants rung out in three languages (English, Spanish, and French) as workers demonstrated in support of a living wage and dignified working conditions. Workers fired up a grill, screen-printed strike bandanas, and hung banners outside the building. It was a great way to cap off a successful second week of the strike. Grads were seemingly everywhere this week, with picket lines marching on the Diag, North Campus, and even at U-M's outpost in Detroit.
On Thursday, grads entered the second week of our strike with pickets across central and north campus. Meanwhile, our community continued to have our backs. In an open letter joined by 55 professors and lecturers, UM Law faculty condemned the University’s attempt to use the courts to break our strike. Professor Sanjukta Paul reminded readers that UM’s movement for an injunction is just another chapter in the long and bleak history of union busting labor injunctions. Today, these injunctions are essentially banned at the federal level and strongly disfavored as a matter of public policy in states. That the University has resorted to a tactic with such a reprehensible history shouldn’t surprise us: workers have always faced steep opposition when we demand fair wages and safe and just working conditions. We should learn from this history as well: when workers stick together, our power grows.