OPINION & EDITORIAL
Editorial Board wrong on unions
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by Letters to the Editor
Wednesday, February 1, 2006
Your editorial unfortunately ignores or distorts the issues involved with Senate Majority Leader Dale Schultz' sponsored legislation, SB 452. This bill would enable UW System faculty and academic staff to vote on whether or not they would like collective bargaining representation. It would not automatically result in the unionization of anyone, it would merely enable votes to take place on a campus-by-campus basis, and by bargaining unit, i.e., faculty or academic staff, should there be sufficient interest to warrant such votes.
Your editorial omitted all mention of academic staff, of which there are twice as many than faculty here on the UW-Madison campus. Precious few faculty and no academic staff "negotiate the terms of their work" in any meaningful sense, as you have claimed, and none of either group currently have rights to bargain over across-the-board salary increases, health-care coverage and a host of other rights affecting working conditions and job security. However, virtually all other non-managerial public employees in Wisconsin, and faculty and academic employees at a great many institutions comparable to the UW System, do have the right to vote on union representation, and many have exercised that right.
Why are we currently deprived of this opportunity? Can there be any reasonable explanation for denying us this fundamental democratic right, or is the underlying thought behind your editorial simply that unions are bad, no matter what? Dale Schultz, to his credit, has not subscribed to this school of thought. He has even gone so far as to recognize that employee organizations might contribute to resolving labor relations disputes at UW, instead of relying exclusively on such agencies as the Equal Employment Relations Commission (EEOC) and the courts — a most costly practice.
Gov. Doyle has basically taken a similar position. Now that doesn't turn either one into "Jimmy Hoffa's most unlikely disciple," as you put it in Schultz' case, but it does indicate that both of them are dealing with the real world and democratic rights in the 21st century. It would be a real service to your readers if you would honestly come to grips with these issues as well.
David Nack
Vice President
United Faculty and Academic Staff, AFT Local 223
Anonymous (February 1, 2006 @ 11:01am):
Maybe a union could do for them the same as they've done for the UAW members.
Maybe it would lead to off-shoring of higher education to China and India?
Anonymous (February 1, 2006 @ 11:57am):
Unions have outlived their usefulness in most aspects of the job market. In fact, Faculty and Academic Staff have an alternative called the real world that if they are unhappy with their pay or benefits allows them to seek employment elsewhere. Just as their are benefits to working as a state employee their are many benefits that UW Faculty and staff receive that they would not have in the real world. I have done both having been a staff person for the Atheletic Department and at the Business School. The Staff and Faculty have the freedoms that in the real world are only enjoyed by Sales people. Except that Staff and Faculty are rarely held accountable for poor performance meaning, they get Status, Decent Pay and are damn near Impossible to Fire.
Unions have become a tool for Socialists who want to steal from the rich and give to the rich people that they like. Having worked for 4 years as a memeber of the UCFW union I always enjoyed that my Union rep made 5 times what she had negotiated for me to make while all my dues went to a bunch of idiotic leftists running for office. As a remedy I went back to school and no longer rely on someone else to tell me what my efforts are worth. I can ask for more and move on if my requests are not approved.
So, with the exception of third world countries where Unions might do some good, I find I dislike them most all the time especially the political philosophies they support and articulate.
Anonymous (February 1, 2006 @ 4:03pm):
"...an alternative called the real world..."
Not so much.
Those who can, do.
Those who can't, teach.
Hmmmmmmmmm, maybe this explains the liberal tilt to the professorial ranks?
Anonymous (February 1, 2006 @ 5:36pm):
What conservatives never grasp about teachers, and never will because they are morons, is that some people teach because they like teaching and because they are intellectually curious.
Any professor on this campus could beat the pants off any poster here in the job market.
Anonymous (February 1, 2006 @ 11:50pm):
As the second poster, I would like to point out that my wife is a teacher and enjoys here job very much. She does not enjoy the Teachers Union which entrenches mediocrity. It rewards showing up instead of excellence. As for Teachers being intellectually curious, I am puzzled as to why the majority of them support speech laws on campus that limit the expression of ideas. You can't openly debate Affirmative Action because someones feelings might be hurt. How curious.
As for beating someones pants off isn't that sexual harrasment, unless the person is handsome, attractive and not unattractive. I had some very good professors while at the UW all of whom happened to be in the business school. Of course, Business Grads are forced to listen to the intellectual curiousty of people who believe that all sex is rape, and that slavery trumps all rational reasoning regarding race. We sit through ethical courses designed to teach us that firing an employee is wrong and that the bottom line is trees, oceans and owls. Instead of forcing all business students to wade through a bunch of dishonest intellectual thought the school should require all students complete Accounting 101, and a course on Animal Farm as taught by George Will or Thomas Sowell.
Schools and Universitys by nature are socialist constructs, they creat rules that you have to follow to receive a peice of paper that enables you to earn more scratch. The last thing the current model wants is more free thinkers, they prefer students thinking that bigger government is good as long as you have the right people running the country. Of course, their little secret, that they don't tell the 18-25 year old minds full of mush, is that they are talking about themselves as the right kind of people. Well I don't like those kind of people, they are annoying at parties and frequently construct the stupidiest hell in a hand basket scenarios when a republican is in office. History repeatedly proves them wrong but when you 18 and a out of the house, you actually take these blow hards seriously. Me on the other hand, I scared the crap out of liberal teachers. I was more than happy to prove them wrong, and it was shocking how quickly the rest of the class would shift once a single student had the huevos to challenge the idiotic statements coming out of the mouth of people who are supposedly intellectually curious.
Most of whom tried to Bully the class, instead of engaging in honest debate. I love debate but when people stoop to name calling, the high road is for wussies.
Those who can do, some of those who can teach, most of those who can't build rationalizations as to why they fail and try to force everyone else to believe them. You can find those folks over in humanities.
Anonymous (February 2, 2006 @ 1:02am):
socialists socialists socialists! don't listen to a word they say because they're socialists! if you didn't vote for bush you're a socialist! any word you say must be a lie because you're a socialist! socialists socialists socialists!
i support the advancement of all people, research that doesn't fit into the agenda of the ruling class, and freedom and democracy for all. if i have to be a socialist to get those things, then where do i sign up?
