A fellow graduate student from environmental studies came to my office hours the other day. Without much hesitation, she politely asked me why I didn't sign up for TA union. I still hadn't recovered from the fact that she wasn't one of my students, but managed to tell her that I am against unions in general. She must be shocked because she seemed to be ready to pull out a form for me to sign up on the spot but had to stop at my answer. Anyway, she gathered her composure and told me, "Do you know that you are still entitled to all the benefits even if you are not a member?"
I don't like being patronized, but didn't have a quick response at the time. I simply said yes and she walked away. Later in the week, one of my classmates told me that she encountered the same rep and was sort of forced to sign up.
It is all good that people stand up and fight for their own rights as long as they don't become a monopoly. Any student who has taken econ 1 will tell you that a labor union is a monopoly in labor supply. The problem with our monopoly union is that they deprive me of getting a better deal with the university. Without the union, many good TAs like me will be better off. (I am bragging here but it is students who say I am a good TA.)
Why is that? As the same econ 1 student would tell you, the price will go up if there is a shortage in supply. With economics becomes a more and more popular major, economics department simply can't find enough TAs to help professors in larger and larger undergrad classes. Good TAs would have a niche in bargaining benefits were not for the union's intervention. And they think they are doing you a favor?
The deeper question about TA union is with their existence in the first place. Honestly, no one forces you to become a graduate student or a TA. You are simply weighing the costs and benefits of different career paths. You know what is on the table when you decide to do graduate studies. You can walk away from the deal any time. If universities do not offer competing benefits for graduate TAs, they will not get enough TAs to do the job. That is a fact and the balance of power was there long before the union. TA unions are not helping TAs, at least not those good ones.
A few words for the union officials: It is good that you find a cause in your life, but fighting for TA benefits is definitely too small a battle for people like you. Take it to the streets, Max Weber would tell you.
(Picture: www.uawhonda.com)
3 comments:
What irritates me about the unions I have encountered as an undergraduate here(Student Union Assembly)at UCSC is that they automatically feel that their ideology is the perfect fit for everyone else; that only their solution is legitimate enough to conquer the problem at hand.
The other irritating factor is that it is MANDATORY that I join their union. Because I attend this school, they automatically bill me for being a member of the SUA. And although I feel that they are completely useless to me and that nothing they do will improve my life, I cannot decide to repeal my membership! Yes I understand that the fee is "merely" $27 per year, but I could do so much more to improve my life with that $27 than the SUA ever could (I could purchase groceries or purchase a textbook for example).
And the fee is not "merely" $27. Every year we have these elections where the students vote on referendums which will effect the entire undergraduate population if passed. What often happens is that students add measures to the ballot that will increase student fees in order to fund a special program here and another special program there. However, I cannot stress enough, the fee applies to EVERYONE. Why should I be forced to subsidize someone else’s special programs? I am already paying plenty of money to attend this university, but now I am FORCED to pay for something I will not take part of? If these people with their warm hearts are so adamant about creating these special programs then they should do what the rest of us do to acquire finances – work for it! Or, through voluntary cooperation, allow people to donate to the special cause. But don’t force those who attend this university to pay. Oh how the tyranny of the status quo always wins.
As far as labor unions are concerned, I have never been a member of one. However, it is disgraceful that many non-union members in pro-union settings are forced to pay compulsory union fees. Why is this legal?
- Luis from 113
“The free man will ask neither what his country can do for him nor what he can do for his country."
- Milton Friedman
Well, Luis. TA union is a labor union. Guess what, it is affiliated with UAW. Union of Auto Workers! I really don't know why TAs have anything to do with auto workers. Except maybe they are very powerful?
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