(05-11) 13:06 PDT Berkeley, Calif. (AP) -- State Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez refused to cross a picket line to speak at the University of California, Berkeley, commencement, leaving the school's chancellor to deliver the keynote address.
Nunez, D-Los Angeles, was scheduled to speak Wednesday before thousands of Berkeley graduates at the university's Hearst Greek Theatre but chose to leave campus rather than speak while up to 20 union janitors demonstrated for higher wages.
"The speaker doesn't cross picket lines," Nunez spokesman Richard Stapler said.
UC Chancellor Robert Birgeneau stepped in as a substitute speaker.
The protest by members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees was the first such disruption at a Berkeley convocation in recent memory, said university spokeswoman Marie Felde.
"I think it's terrifically disappointing to the graduates and their families who had hoped to hear speaker Nunez," she said.
About 10,000 undergraduate and graduate degrees will be conferred at Berkeley this month, Felde said. ___ Information from: Contra Costa Times
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