SEATTLE (AP) — Graduate teaching assistants at the University of Washington went on strike early Friday after last-ditch contract negotiations collapsed.

The walkout by the Graduate Student Employee Action Coalition-United Auto Workers, which represents as many as 1,600 teaching assistants and other graduate employees, could hamstring the grading of final examinations in the week before commencement June 9.

About 250 graduate students were picketing at five locations around campus Friday, said university spokesman Bob Roseth.

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