SWAT: STUDENT WORKER ACTION TEAM

Weekly meetings every Wednesday @ 7 pm, Barrows 170

Who are we?

We are a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, laid-off employees and community members who have come together to fight the budget cuts and defend the public mission of the university. We draw on different backgrounds, philosophies and experiences to raise our demands and shape our actions. We strive to bring together and support the participation and leadership of all who are affected by the budget cuts and attacks on public education, particularly those who are hit the hardest. SWAT is democratic in its structure and functioning. Decisions are made on the basis of one-person, one-vote.

What's the problem?

• Fee increases, pay cuts, furloughs, layoffs, and cuts to student services and departmental budgets are seriously damaging education and research.
• We are facing hiring freezes, reduced class offerings, library closures, increased staff workload, cuts to student services and diminished safety.
• Funding priorities reward UC executives over the educational needs of students, and the salary and workplace conditions of staff and faculty.
• There is a lack of transparency in the UC system: only superficial budget information is disclosed
• UC Regents are not democratically elected; UC administration now have unprecedented “emergency powers”
• Increasing privatization of the university (as seen through The Commission on the Future of the UC - The Gould Commission), outsourcing of labor, fee increases, corporate partnerships, etc.
• Decreased access to the UC system for the working class and students of color.

We recognize that the fight to defend and expand public education, economic justice and democracy at the UC is part of the same struggle in California and across the globe; and it is linked to the struggle to end government programs and financing of harmful endeavors such as wars, prisons and corporate welfare. 

We pledge our solidarity and support of those struggles.  Furthermore, we recognize that during the great depression, the sixties and other periods, many people fought to maintain and increase public education and other services in the U.S.; that any public programs we have today are the result of those efforts; and that we have an obligation to defend them.

What do we want?

Students

• Rescind the 9.3% fee increase and prevent further hikes.
• No curtailed student enrollment and increased financial aid.
• Re-establish eliminated classes and services; restore funding for staff and faculty.
• Prioritize diverse curricula: protect all departments and centers.

Workers

• Stop layoffs and hiring freezes; rescind furloughs and pay-cuts.
• Cease union busting practices and honor existing contracts and bargain fairly with workers.
• Increase wages to reflect cost of living increases; improve workplace conditions.
• Respect immigrant rights; no ICE raids on campus.

Measures to Address the Budget Crisis

• Reduce salaries and stop bonuses given all UC administrators.
• Use billions in unrestricted funds and profits for teaching and educational needs.
• Demand a greater percentage of UC budget from state and federal funding.
• Demand corporate tax reform to fund public education in California.

Democratic Governance

• Full disclosure of system-wide finances and transparency of UC Office of the President operations.
• Elect Regents and hold them accountable to staff, faculty, students, and the public.
• Replace The Commission on the Future of the UC (Gould Commission) with a commission comprised of elected students, staff and faculty.

Long-term Goals For A Just University …

• Free public education for all students
• Respect and just compensation for all labor: no divisions between mental and manual labor
• Democratically functioning university with accountable and elected leadership
• Promote critical thought and creative potential in all campus and community members to fully serve the needs of the people of California.
• Research and innovations should be publically owned, promoting the public welfare, rather than corporate profit.
• Full civil rights for all students and workers, including immigrants, women, people of color, LGBT, low-income, disabled, people of all or no faiths, and more.

 How will we do it?

We believe in grassroots organizing, building solidarity, and taking direct action in our own defense, from mass rallies to walk-outs and strikes.  We believe in strengthening our unions through democratic reform and in mobilizing for debate and action.  But in order to win our demands, closed negotiations, petitions, lobbying in Sacramento, and relying on elected officials—whether Democrat or Republican—won’t be enough.  We need to build a democratic mass movement on our campuses and in our communities with students and working people united to take back UC from the control of private interests and put it to work serving our needs.