In the early hours of the morning, protestors picketed prominent locations—including Elm Street, in front of the Law School and outside Woolsey Hall—marching in circles and chanting. Favorite rallying cries included “What do we want? Contract! When do we want it? Now!” and “No Contract! No Work! No Peace!” In addition, cars passing picket points frequently slowed and honked repeatedly to show their support for the labor cause.

Some students complained that they were awoken by the strikers’ chanting and honking.

Later in the morning, picketers began to march around central campus, eventually gathering together in Beinecke Plaza outside Commons dining hall for a long rally before dispersing back to the picket points they had been manning.

The strikers were largely composed of members of Locals 34 and 35, but were joined by many graduate students from GESO as well as a few undergraduates.

Due to the biting winds, many protestors were forced to take refuge from the cold by ducking into buildings and sipping hot coffee.

Local 35 President Robert Proto described the turnout as “unbelievable, even with the weather.”

But given all the advanced warning, most students said they had expected more.

“I thought there were going to be some places where I was going to have to cross a picket line,” said first-year Kevin Roe, explaining that over the course of the day, he only noticed one.

While unions had planned to protest outside buildings with classrooms, students said they were not forced to cross actual picket lines, though some said they felt they did cross theoretical picket lines by simply entering Yale buildings for class.

And despite the absence of a number of TAs, most undergraduate classes kept on schedule.

But other parts of the university took stronger precautions. The School of Management locked its doors, and students with appointments had to call to be let in.

Proto said he thought the strike’s first day had been successful, and he said he hoped that the university would be spurred to negotiate.

“We’re hoping that this action has them understand how committed workers are,” he said. “We hope that they send decision-makers to the negotiation table, because so far they haven’t.”

At the same time, Proto said he was skeptical of Yale’s willingness to negotiate, citing its history with labor. He argued that Yale should not have rejected the binding arbitration that the unions had proposed.

“So far, all they’ve done is develop the worst labor-management relationship in the world. If there’s ever a place that needs third-party intervention, it’s this place,” he said.