and the main labor union repping University of California employees has forced the Democratic National Committee to move its scheduled December debate from the university’s Royce Hall. A new venue has not yet been selected.and Politico, will still be held December 19 in Los Angeles. For the sixth debate of the election cycle, candidates must be at 4% or better in at least four polls and must have at least 200,000 unique donors to get onstage.
“This morning, the Democratic National Committee asked our media partners to move the December 19, 2019 debate to another venue following renewed and unanticipated objections from organized labor,” read a statement on the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs website. “With regret, we have agreed to step aside as the site of the debate rather than become a potential distraction during this vitally important time in our country’s history.
The union, AFSCME Local 3299, represents more than 10,000 service and patient care employees in the UC system and is in the midst of a three-year boycott. “What we’re doing is asking for the candidates who are coming to UCLA’s campus to honor the three-year boycott that we’ve had in place for any speaker attending any event on any of the University of California campuses to stand in solidarity with the workers and essentially to not lend their name and credibility to the university that’s treating workers like this,” said Liz Perlman, union’s executive director, in a Facebook post.