University of Washington NO BUDGET CUTS Info and Demands

March 4th Student Strike Against Budget Cuts

Part of the National Day of Action to Defend Public Education

1 PM on the Quad at UW-Seattle: Rally and picket lines begin

Facebook Page (invite your friends!):

*MEDIA UPDATE BELOW!


The Washington State Labor Council has promoted this striketo its networks. The call to action has been aired on KOMO News, KING 5, among other media outlets.

WFSE 1488, SEIU 925 and UAW 4121, labor unions on UW campus, have all endorsed the student strike. This strike will be a historical moment  to mark the beginning of a long fight. This will show the power of student and worker solidarity to fight the cuts that hurt ALL OF US! Not just in WA state, but across the country! WE WILL NOT PAY FOR THOSE WHO CREATED THIS ECONOMIC CRISIS. NOT ON THE BACKS OF WORKERS AND STUDENTS!

At the University of Washington  is facing massive budget cuts which means tuition hikes, cuts to financial aid, and overcrowded classrooms for students.

It means layoffs, overwork, dangerous working conditions, furloughs, health care cuts, and union busting for workers. 

On March 4th we will fight back to defend our education and our jobs! Students and workers across the country and around the world will be striking on that day, responding to a call emerging from the mass movement against budget cuts in California. Activists in some California cities are even organizing to build for city-wide strikes and actions on the 4th!

Here at UW we have tried rallying several times and it hasn't been enough to stop the cuts. It's time we up the ante by showing the legislators in Olympia that there will be no more business as usual on our campus as long as they try to balance the budget at our expense!

It's also time we show Mark Emmert and the Board of Regents that UW is not for sale to corporations. The budget cuts are no excuse for targeting cuts towards custodians and other immigrant workers, working class students, students of color, women, and queer folks. We need to fight to make sure that UW is open and accessible for ALL people regardless of income!

Strikes are an effective form of struggle and have won concrete victories in California. By walking out of a class students show that this school cannot run without our daily cooperation. We feel our collective power. By setting up picket lines we will try to convince other students to skip class once so that our classes and our classmates will even be here next year!  We hope this will inspire more people to join the struggle and will be one step among many toward building the kind of mass movement we need to actually stop these cuts.

Workers at UW, community members, and high school students are all coming out to the picket lines in solidarity with each other.  Workers, if you cannot walk out or strike, try to take an hour or two of vacation time so you can attend. Students will be striking not only for our own demands but for those of workers, high school students, and anyone else affected by budget cuts!

 Washington Federation of State Employees Local 1488 voted to support this strike.  WFSE Local 1488 is the union that represents thousands of workers and staff members at UW and Harborview.  Rank and File WFSE members, especially custodians,  have been at the forefront of the struggle against budget cuts and many will be standing in solidarity with students on the picket lines.  UAW Local 4121 (TAs, RAs, and tutors), and SEIU 925 (office workers and administrative staff) have also endorsed the student strike, and rank and file grad student workers are at the forefront of organizing it.

This action is called by the UW Student - Worker Coalition, an alliance of undergrad, worker, and grad student organizations that has come together to fight the cuts.


PRESS CONTACTS:

Michelle Woo 626 688 0015
Jennifer Fletcher 206 909 3665
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MORE INFO:

For regular updates about the anti-budget cuts struggle at UW

MEDIA UPDATES:
Campus rallies for higher ed funding this Thursday
http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=292004
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/416046_UWPICKET1.html
http://www.kuow.org/program.php?current=WK1

For videos of past protests against budget cuts, go to the "dinsurg" channel on youtube. For example, check out, and also


Check out the National March 4th Day of Action facebook event page
and the website here:


Check out the publication "We Are All Workers", an analysis of budget cuts at UW that includes writings by custodians and other workers as well as working class UW students, high school students, and others

"Whose budget cuts?" pamphlet:

Solidarity with UW campus organizing from activists in California:


UW Daily coverage:

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Student-Worker Coalition's demands:

1) Transparent and democratic budget allocation
2) Cut from the top administrators; cap all salaries at $150000 per year
3) No layoffs
4) No speed ups (extra work) for workers
5) Accessible public education for all
6) Freeze tuition (no tuition hikes)
7) Replace loans with grants


NOTE: If there isn't a critical mass of people the strike will only go on for an hour and we'll go back and organize to make sure the next strike is bigger. But if a lot of people show up with energy we'll take a vote at two to see if people want to keep it going longer. So if you want to make this big, invite all your friends, make announcements in your classes, and let's make this happen!