California Academic Workers Strike in Support of Pro-Palestinian Protests

Students protesting at an encampment supporting Palestinians on the California University campus (EPA)
Students protesting at an encampment supporting Palestinians on the California University campus (EPA)
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California Academic Workers Strike in Support of Pro-Palestinian Protests

Students protesting at an encampment supporting Palestinians on the California University campus (EPA)
Students protesting at an encampment supporting Palestinians on the California University campus (EPA)

Discord from last month's mob attack on pro-Palestinian student activists encamped at the University of California, Los Angeles, flared again on Tuesday as academic workers staged a strike on campus protesting UCLA's response to the violence, Reuters said.
Unionized academic researchers, graduate teaching assistants and post-doctoral scholars at UCLA walked off the job over what they regard as unfair labor practices in the university's handling of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in recent weeks, organizers said.
They were joined by fellow academic workers at two other University of California campuses - UC Davis near Sacramento, and UC Santa Cruz, where the protest strike began on May 20.
The strikers are demanding amnesty for grad students and other academic workers who were arrested or face discipline for their involvement in the protests, which union leaders say were peaceful except when counter-demonstrators and other instigators were allowed to provoke unrest.
The state Public Employee Relations Board ordered the University of California and the strikers to take part in mediated talks. A representative for the strikers said the parties met once over the weekend.
The strike was organized by the United Auto Workers union Local 4811, which represents some 48,000 non-tenured academic employees total across 10 University of California campuses and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The UAW local includes about 6,400 academic workers at UCLA, 5,700 at Davis and about 2,000 at Santa Cruz. A union representative said thousands were withholding their work as of Monday. Several hundred attended a march and midday rally on the UCLA campus on Tuesday.
The expanding work stoppage marks the first union-backed protest in solidarity with the recent wave of student-led demonstrations on dozens of US campuses against Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Union leaders said a major impetus for the strike was the arrest of 210 people, including campus-employed grad students, at the scene of a Palestinian solidarity protest camp torn down by police at UCLA on May 2.
About 24 hours earlier, on the night of April 30-May 1, masked assailants armed with sticks and clubs attacked the encampment and its occupants, sparking a bloody clash that went on for at least three hours before police moved in.
The university has since reassigned the chief of the campus police department and opened an investigation into law enforcement's reaction to the violence.
Last week, three weeks after the melee, campus police announced their first, and so far only, arrest of someone accused of taking part in the attack - a man they say was seen in video footage beating victims with a wooden pole.
Separately on Tuesday in Detroit, Wayne State University suspended in-person classes and directed staff to work remotely to avoid any disruptions that might be posed by a pro-Palestinian encampment there.
US Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat of Palestinian descent, joined those protests on Monday and Tuesday.



Iran Says Fire Contained after Deadly Blast at Key Port

A handout photo made available by the Iranian Red Crescent Society official channel shows a helicopter spraying water at the Rajaie port in the city of Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, 27 April 2025 (issued 28 April 2025). (EPA/ Iranian Red Crescent Society/ Handout)
A handout photo made available by the Iranian Red Crescent Society official channel shows a helicopter spraying water at the Rajaie port in the city of Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, 27 April 2025 (issued 28 April 2025). (EPA/ Iranian Red Crescent Society/ Handout)
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Iran Says Fire Contained after Deadly Blast at Key Port

A handout photo made available by the Iranian Red Crescent Society official channel shows a helicopter spraying water at the Rajaie port in the city of Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, 27 April 2025 (issued 28 April 2025). (EPA/ Iranian Red Crescent Society/ Handout)
A handout photo made available by the Iranian Red Crescent Society official channel shows a helicopter spraying water at the Rajaie port in the city of Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, 27 April 2025 (issued 28 April 2025). (EPA/ Iranian Red Crescent Society/ Handout)

Firefighters have brought under control a blaze at Iran's main port, following a deadly explosion blamed on negligence, authorities said.

The explosion, heard dozens of kilometers (miles) away, hit a dock at the southern port of Shahid Rajaee on Saturday.

At least 70 people were killed and more than 1,000 others suffered injuries in the blast and ensuing fire, which also caused extensive damage, state media reported.

Red Crescent official Mokhtar Salahshour told the channel late Monday that the fire had been "contained" and a clean-up was under way.

State television aired live footage on Tuesday showing thick smoke rising from stacked containers.

Iran's ILNA news agency quoted Hossein Zafari, spokesman for the country's crisis management organization, as saying the situation had improved significantly since Monday.

However, "the operation and complete extinguishing process may take around 15 to 20 days", the agency reported.

Iran's customs authority said port operations had returned to normal, according to the IRNA news agency.

The port of Shahid Rajaee lies near the major coastal city of Bandar Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which one-fifth of global oil output passes.

Hormozgan provincial governor Mohammad Ashouri ruled out sabotage.

"The set of hypotheses and investigations carried out during the process indicated that the sabotage theory lacks basis or relevance," he told state television late Monday.

The port´s customs office said the blast may have started in a depot storing hazardous and chemical materials.

Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said there were "shortcomings, including noncompliance with safety precautions and negligence".

A committee assigned to investigate the blast cited similar factors as the likely cause.