Bernie Sanders returns to California, fires up striking workers at UCLA

WESTWOOD — Campaigning in California for the first time in his second run for president, Bernie Sanders flashed familiar themes Wednesday in a speech to UCLA workers staging a one-day strike amid stalled contract negotiations.

Sanders fired up a crowd of about 1,500 union members, students and supporters of his White House bid by rallying support for University of California workers who were scheduled to walk off the job at 10 campuses and five hospitals.

“I’m here today not as a candidate for president but as somebody who has spent the last 40 years of my life walking on picket lines for unionized workers,” Sanders said on the south end of the UCLA campus.

But much of the 10-minute address could have come straight out of a campaign speech by the Vermont senator, an independent and avowed socialist, who is seeking the 2020 Democratic nomination.

Sanders urged UC leaders to “sit down and negotiate with your unions in good faith,” and echoed unions’ calls for more equity on pay and benefits between executives and workers.

He said UC workers aren’t alone in their frustration.

“What we are seeing all across the country is a war being waged against the working people of America,” Sanders said, characteristically leaning into the microphone and jabbing the air with his right index finger as he spoke.

About 10,000 members of the University Professional and Technical Employees-Communications Workers of America union were expected to picket statewide Wednesday, with members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees joining in solidarity.

It’s the third strike in 12 months in a dispute that started in 2017. University of California officials blame the unions for the breakdown in negotiations.

Sanders said a stronger labor movement is vital to bolstering the middle class.

“If I have anything to say about it — and I expect that I will — we will make it easier for workers to join unions, not harder,” Sanders said as the crowd cheered his most direct reference to his hope to be president.

For Sanders, 77, the appearance at UCLA was the first in a series of stops in Southern California, including public rallies Saturday afternoon at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles as well as Friday in San Diego and Sunday in San Francisco.

It marked his first visit to California since October 2018, when he stumped for congressional candidates. It was his first visit on his own behalf since 2016, when he made a surprisingly strong run for the Democratic nomination.

But in that 2016 race California is where Sanders’ hopes officially ended. Hillary Clinton’s wins in the California and New Jersey primaries on June 7, 2016, gave her a majority of pledged delegates to that year’s Democratic convention.

By moving the primary from June to March 3 in 2020, California hopes to raise its influence in the race among Democrats aiming to take on President Trump. More than a half-dozen candidates have campaigned in California already this year, including California Sen. Kamala Harris, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, as well as former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who is considering an independent campaign for president.

Waiting for the rally to start Wednesday, UCLA senior Beverly Fontaine, 21, said she supported Sanders in 2016 and plans to vote for him again.

“I think he’s coming back with more strength and more people behind him, especially young people,” Fontaine said.

National polls in the Democratic race show Sanders second behind former Vice President Joe Biden, who hasn’t yet launched a campaign. Forecasters at PredictIt.com show the same top two.

Madelyn Gilbreath, a retired paralegal who attended Wednesday’s event, said Warren is her favorite candidate but Sanders is one of several progressive Democrats she would consider supporting in the primary.

“I really liked Kamala Harris, until my son pointed out she was a really harsh prosecutor,” said Gilbreath, 66, referring to Harris’ history as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general.

Renee Van Vechten, a political science professor at the University of Redlands, said Sanders will have to work harder to stand out in a crowded 2020 Democratic field than he did in ’16, when he represented the primary alternative to Hillary Clinton.

Van Vechten said Sanders’ support for unions has mixed appeal to the general electorate.

“Obviously, he’s gone to UCLA (Wednesday) because he has a sympathetic audience, but that audience is limited,” Van Vechten said. “It’s not an issue that’s going to drive most people to the polls.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.