Dive Brief:

• University of California-Santa Cruz teaching assistants picketed against unfair labor practices and growing class sizes in a campus protest Wednesday that led to 20 arrests.
• The teaching assistants, mostly graduate students, were in the first day of a two-day strike called by their union, the United Auto Workers, which represents 450 TAs at Santa Cruz and 12,000 at other UC schools.
• The UAW held strikes at three University of California campuses on Wednesday, and six more are planned for today. 

Dive Insight:

Campus protests are a sign of the times due to tightening budgets. The UAW’s contract with UC expired on Sept. 30, but the two sides are still bargaining, with negotiations set to resume on April 15. At Santa Cruz, home of the Banana Slugs, a picket line blocked the main entrance to the campus, and one protester said that police showed up in riot gear. One protester was charged with resisting arrest, but the other 19 — all taken in on misdemeanor charges — were described as peaceful. Classes were not canceled.