A typi= cal union strike has a few common, core requests: better pay, robust benefi= ts and safe working conditions.

The current academic worker strike= s at UCLA, UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz certainly include traditional element= s of a labor stoppage. Yet they also represent a merger of union accusation= s alleging workplace mistreatment with the goals of the wider pro-Palestini= an campus movement.

On-campus chants have including phrasing such = as =E2=80=9Cworkers rights under attack,=E2=80=9D with that message being t= ied directly to pro-Palestinian union members arrested and suspended after = recent protests.

Traditional signs and marches have included a gro= wing number of protesters waving Palestinian flags and wearing kaffiyehs, t= he black checked traditional scarves used to express Palestinian solidarity= .

These marchers have pressed for demands mirroring those of the s= tudents they work with, namely for the University of California to divest i= ts ties to Israel and the war in Gaza and grant all protesters amnesty from= campus discipline.

While this merger has pumped new blood into th= e pro-Palestinian campus movements, it=E2=80=99s widened a gap between work= ers and administrators over its purpose and legality. Labor experts are spl= it on how the unique demands of United Auto Workers Local 4811 could come t= o a precedent-setting end.

Who is striking and why

The 48,000-member union includes graduate teaching assistants, researchers= and some academic workers who lead discussion groups, grade papers and adm= inister exams, among other responsibilities at UC=E2=80=99s 10 campuses and= the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

They walked off the jo= b alleging their free speech rights to speak out about their workplaces wer= e violated when UC leaders called in police to remove pro-Palestinian encam= pments at several campuses, resulting in arrests and suspensions.

= They also contend the university violated their rights as workers by failin= g to protect them when a violent mob attacked protesters at UCLA, including= union members, and police took hours to intervene.

The union base= s the charges on the experiences of dozens of members who protested at UCLA= , UC San Diego and UC Irvine. The union also says universities unilaterally= changed their job conditions when classes were moved online amid protests = instead of bargaining over those work-related decisions.

How ha= ve the UCs countered

UC Berkeley=E2=80=99s outgoing Chancellor= Carol Christ said she supported examining Berkeley=E2=80=99s investments i= n =E2=80=9Ca targeted list of companies due to their participation in weapo= ns manufacturing, mass incarceration, and/or surveillance industries=E2=80= =9D and would push University of California regents on divestment.

UC Riverside Chancellor Kim Wilcox said he would form a task force to =E2= =80=9Cexplore the removal of UCR=E2=80=99s endowment from the management of= the UC Investments Office, and the investment of said endowment in a manne= r that will be financially and ethically sound for the university with cons= ideration to the companies involved in arms manufacturing and delivery.=E2= =80=9D

UC leaders also said they are asking the state labor author= ity =E2=80=94 the Public Employment Relations Board =E2=80=94 to order the = union to halt its strike during a critical ending period of the term with f= inals and grading at hand.

Legal debate

Unions hav= e long played a role in elections and even supported foreign policy positio= ns, =E2=80=9Cbut this is different,=E2=80=9D said David Lewin, a professor = emeritus of management, human resources and organizational behavior at the = UCLA Anderson School of Management.

=E2=80=9CStriking workers are = taking a risk in supporting one side of a two-party conflict,=E2=80=9D Lewi= n said. =E2=80=9CIt looks opportunistic because you have employees of the u= niversity striking at the end of a quarter or semester when final exams are= being given, grades are due and people have to graduate. It puts a lot of = pressure on the university.=E2=80=9D

Other labor experts take a di= fferent view.

The university=E2=80=99s messaging =E2=80=9Cis meant= to intimidate the workers into not going on strike,=E2=80=9D said Tobias H= igbie, a UCLA professor of history and labor studies. =E2=80=9CI wish the U= niversity of California would be a different type of employer, but apparent= ly it=E2=80=99s not the way they want to go with this.=E2=80=9D

What=E2=80=99s next

Mediation between UC and the UAW is ongoi= ng, part of a multistep process that could drag far beyond the end of this = quarter, which is mid-June at several campuses.

UC has also filed = its own unfair labor practice allegation against the union, saying it viola= ted its contract by striking.