UC students rallying for worker rights march to Dirks’ residence, hop gate

By Andrea Platten

Neither police presence nor rain could deter about 150 UC students from marching up the steps of University House on Sunday to rally for contracted workers’ rights.

What was initially an action scheduled as part of the UC Student Association’s annual Students of Color Conference escalated into a march to Chancellor Nicholas Dirks’ home. Students reached the residence about 10:45 a.m. and began chanting for Dirks to come outside, some holding a large sign that read, “Dirks is a racist.”

The University of California has been at the center of ongoing controversy regarding its use of contract workers, who receive lower pay and fewer benefits than UC employees. In October, multiple campus demonstrations brought attention to UC Berkeley’s affiliation with Performance First, a janitorial services company being investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor for allegedly underpaying its workers.

“The goal is to have all the contracted-out workers who are demanding to be insourced to be insourced, to have a UC job,” said David Lemus, a UC Berkeley senior who attended the protest. “And they’re all people of color.”

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[Source]: Daily Californian