They picketed a UC chancellor’s inauguration. Why were union staffers arrested?
In an attempt to pressure University of California administrators to agree to raises for some of the lowest-paid employees, AFSCME Local 3299 decided to hold a small but loud picket earlier this month outside the inauguration of UC Riverside’s new chancellor.
The union planned to peacefully protest the ceremony by chanting and using a bullhorn outside the auditorium where the new UC president was in attendance.
By the end of the day, three staff members of the union were in handcuffs.
University officials said that the arrested individuals, who were AFSCME Local 3299 staff members, not UC Riverside employees, violated campus regulations regarding the use of amplified sound. They were each detained for a couple of hours and charged with a misdemeanor.
Union leaders said that university police’s response was more aggressive on Feb. 5 compared to previous protests, including one that happened later this month, because the new UC president was in attendance at the inauguration.
“That’s what’s truly different about this picket,” said Liz Perlman, the executive director of AFSCME Local 3299. “(UC President) James Milliken was there and speaking and didn’t want the sound of a picket line outside.”
It’s not clear from a brief video of the incident, or either parties’ conflicting statements, whether warnings were given prior to the arrests. The union, which represents more than 40,000 UC workers, maintained that protesters received no heads up that arrests were imminent. Giving such warnings has been routinely done at other union protests.
John Warren, a spokesperson for UC Riverside, said that the protesters were arrested by UC police department officers and charged with “amplified sound” violations. Warren said in a statement that UCPD and campus administrators gave the union five warnings that the unapproved amplified sound was in violation of the university’s “Time, Place, and Manner policy” before the arrests were made.
Aurther Liou, an AFSCME Local 3299 attorney, said the three staff members were charged with misdemeanors for violating a UC policy that requires permission before a bullhorn or other amplified sound could be used on campus. The three have been ordered to appear in Riverside Superior Court and they each face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
February incident was ‘truly shocking’
AFSCME Local 3299 has been out of a contract with the university system for over a year. The Feb. 5 picket was meant to communicate to UC leaders that members are struggling financially and need a “decent living wage,” Perlman said.
The union said it’s not uncommon for arrests to occur at demonstrations when civil disobedience is a planned part of the protest.
“That’s often how we get their attention,” Perlman said. “Anytime we receive a warning, we close up. We’re not interested in risking arrest unless we plan to do so.”
The arrests that occurred earlier this month were “truly shocking,” Perlman said, because they seemed to come out of nowhere.
Janeth Vasquez, a AFSCME Local 3299 staff member, was one of the union staff members who was arrested. She also said that there were no notifications about the imminent arrests. Sandra Habr and Orlando Sandoval were the other union staff members who were arrested, according to documents shared by the university.
“They never, not once, announced to anyone that we needed to stop doing anything, so we continued our peaceful picket, as we usually do, and then that’s when they ended up arresting me,” Vasquez said.
No arrest record available
The university pushed back on the union’s assertion that protesters were not warned ahead of the arrests. Warren said that a representative from UCR human resources spoke with union staff members after talking with the police. Both warned AFSCME staff members that the protest violated the university’s policies around what activities can be conducted on campus, Warren said.
UC Riverside provided an arrest log of the incident, which did not include any details about the arresting officer’s description of the incident. Warren declined to share the police report because he said the incident is under investigation. Warren did share a “narrative” from the police report that stated individuals were “informed of the violation and provided opportunities to comply,” but ultimately they did not, which resulted in the three arrests.
In a letter sent to Chancellor S. Jack Hu the day after the incident, the union said the university “committed a clear unfair practice and has violated AFSCME and its members’ rights to free speech.”
Liou said union staffers were engaged in a quintessential part of protest activity by making noise. The university’s claim that the union needs to obtain permission for using amplified sound is a restriction on individuals’ freedom of speech.
“This is not anything where we have ever seen UC arrest people for this kind of activity,” Liou said. “AFSCME holds pickets all the time, and they are not asking permission to use bullhorns.”
The union noted that it held a similar protest at UC Los Angeles two weeks after the incident on Riverside’s campus, which did not result in arrests.
“At best, UC engaged in selective enforcement of an unlawful policy,” Todd Stenhouse, a spokesperson for the union, said in a statement. “At worst, UC’s new president is willing to use police power to try and bully his most vulnerable employees into silence.”
Milliken, who was appointed last May after serving as the chancellor of the University of Texas System, wasn’t consulted about the arrests, Warren said. During the incident, Milliken “was seated by the podium inside,” he said.
