As you are no doubt aware the Indiana University Student Academic Assistants are, once again, threatening to strike on September 26. You may remember that back in April, pro-union PhD students formed a “picket line,” shutting down some of the operations in the College of Arts and Sciences building. They demanded that the administration substantially increase the minimum compensation for the 20 hours a week that they work to a wage that covered both living expenses and tuition, eliminate graduate student fees, and officially recognize their union.
The picket line didn’t have much effect outside of a few departments, but the administration was paying attention. President Whitten and her staff have been here about a year and clearly recognize the failures of their predecessors. The PhD students had not had a raise in many years, paid high mandatory fees, and faced rapidly rising rent costs. They gave the PhD students nearly everything they were asking for except recognition of their union.
The administration had a committee review the compensation, fees, and working conditions for the SAAs. The result was a statement from the Provost announcing a new $12.5 million effort to increase the minimum compensation and eliminate the fees for all SAAs. The $12.5 million is paid for by undergraduate tuition hikes that would have otherwise financed technology and equipment upgrades.
So what do the union supporters propose to do after they won? Well, keep threatening to strike of course! They obviously don’t care that a strike will hurt undergraduates who are paying the tuition that funded their increased compensation. Their media spokesperson responded, “The increase in SAA stipends shows what graduate workers can accomplish by coming together, and underscores that we will continue to fight for a union on campus so that responses to our demands are permanent and created at the bargaining table, not in one-off promises.”
So, who are these people? The “IGWC” (Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition), is the campus group that is clamoring for union representation. They have chosen to be part of a larger, national union, the United Electrical Workers (UE). Many years ago the AFL-CIO, the umbrella organization for U.S. unions, threw UE out because they were too politically focused. My father was involved with removing UE from the factory where he worked. Today it only represents about 5% of electrical workers. Electrical workers evidently know something that the IGWC does not—UE cannot be trusted.
But this is not just about one particular union. The administration and the board of trustees have wisely chosen to oppose any union. PhD students and faculty have a relationship that is usually highly productive, but it can easily be disrupted by clumsy bureaucratic, union-required rules. The trustees and administration clearly recognize this problem and so should you. You should keep in mind that the noisy PhD students are making demands that you will fund and that will hurt your education. When a handful of students go out on “strike” and are fired at the end of September, the Witten administration and IU’s trustees are thinking of undergraduates who are the victims and who will bear the costs if this union is recognized. You should support a President who is acting for you.
Professor Charles Trzcinka is the James and Virginia Cozad Professor of Finance at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.