At UC Irvine alone, about 4,500 graduate student workers have been on strike for 17 days, demanding wage increases to be able to afford OC’s increasingly expensive housing costs. … “With 8% inflation, you’ve got a lot of pressure on [workers] to try to figure out how to make ends meet,” said Judith Stepan-Norris, a retired sociology professor at the UC Irvine who studies labor unions. … Workers must be sensing there’s more to gain than lose by going on strike, said Stepan-Norris. “Workers are more likely to strike when they see other workers striking and winning.”

For the full story, please visit https://voiceofoc.org/2022/11/why-are-workers-striking-much-more-often-in-orange-county/.