Going on strike?

I attended a meeting of my union the other day, the Coalition of University Employees (CUE), which represents clerical workers in the University of California system (I am a library assistant, hence a clerical worker). It seems a strike is possible within a month. The leaders cited a report which said we employees should be paid significantly higher. We had a strike a few years ago, but that had a definite beginning and end, lasting just a few days. This strike, on the other hand, would be open-ended, meaning it could last several months. I don't want to cross the picket line, but on the other hand, I cannot afford to go indefinitely without a paycheck, and with questionable job security, especially after I have worked so many years for the university and am looking forward to retirement. I believe that is the situation of many other UC employees represented by CUE. Our pay is not great, but it is not like we are working at Walmart, which is the current job trend in our country. I wonder sometimes if the CUE leaders are just in that old 60s Berkeley mode, looking for a people's confrontation with the establishment.