An Interesting Experience
September 20, 2011 2 Comments
True story: I’m having lunch the other day in a local restaurant, and sitting next to me were three or four students who happened to be Graduate Fellows of some sort or another. I truly wasn’t eavesdropping, but I overheard them discussing what would happen if a strike came. They were truly agonizing over what position they should take. I introduced myself as GAU’s President, and we discussed the situation. As Fellows, they are not covered under the present contract, but we’re working on getting that changed in the future. But for now, if a strike comes, they’ll have to follow their consciences. At the same time, the person sitting next to me introduced herself as a new member, and asked what she could do for GAU! This has never happened to me in the three or four years I’ve been in the union.
I drew a couple of lessons from the experience. First, the word is getting around the community that a strike may be looming, and people of conscience are figuring out where they stand on the issue. In this instance, my lunch companions realized that the only choice that didn’t result in compromising key principles was to support GAU. Second, both GAU’s recognition in the community as well as membership numbers are both trending up. Did you know we have at least 25-30 new members in the last week or so?
Now let’s keep up the pressure on the University to bargain in good faith and on ourselves to preserve this momentum.
Jim,
As one of the Graduate Fellows you reference (by implication in your post), I would like to say that while I am distraught over the prospect of a strike, I am not agonizing over what course of action to take in such an event. As you point out, we are not covered by GAU agreements at present. Moreover, as the interests of Fellows differ from regular GAs and RAs at least as much as non-tenure track instructors do from tenure/tenure track faculty, I believe we deserve the opportunity to decide, as a group, whether or not to organize, as a separate union.
In case of a strike (which, let’s hope will be brief), I intend to go to campus as usual, and complete my research assignment as I ordinarily would, which will involve going to my office occasionally, as well as the library. I sympathize with GAU’s demands (with the exception of the Fellow issue on which I respectfully but strongly disagree with GAU’s position), and in the event of a strike I will support the union in any way I can without jeopardizing my status either as a graduate student or a Morris Doctoral Fellow. Should you or any other union members disagree with my actions, it is my wish that we can continue do so respectfully and without acrimony.
Actually, Nathan, I wasn’t referring to you. I was referring to an experience that occurred at Longbranch over lunch with some Fellows from Mass Communication.