Avoid hardships endured by others: recognize union

Friday, December 4, 1998

Avoid hardships endured by others: recognize union

WISCONSIN: UC should consider struggles, wins of TAs across
country

By Brian Obach

I was recently a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin
(UW) where I worked as a teaching assistant for several years. As a
graduate employee I was represented by the Teaching Assistants
Association (TAA), a union of teaching and project assistants.
Graduate employees in Wisconsin struggled for years to achieve full
recognition for the union, similar to the struggle that graduate
employees have undertaken at UCLA to achieve recognition for the
Student Association of Graduate Employees (SAGE).

After years of struggle and two difficult strikes, the TAA was
successful in achieving recognition. I was fortunate enough to
enjoy the fruits of that effort. I never felt mistreated by my
employer during my years of work there, and I attribute that to the
fact that I had the TAA standing behind me.

Having the union to represent me ensured that my employer
treated me with respect, and I always knew that I would have
somewhere to turn if ever they were to treat me unfairly. In
addition, I enjoyed reasonable compensation and medical coverage
for myself and my family, all the products of collective bargaining
by the TAA.

Although the process was difficult at first, once established,
the TAA in Wisconsin allowed for a relationship of mutual trust and
understanding between the administration and the graduate
employees.

Here at UCLA, the opportunity exists to avoid the initial
hardship, but it seems as if the administration is taking the same
misguided path that the UW administration traveled down years ago.
The administration here has created an environment of conflict and
hostility by denying recognition to the union that the graduate
employees have endorsed.

In a Chronicle of Higher Education article, associate dean Robin
Fisher arrogantly dismisses the conflict as one between "those …
who are older and more experienced … and those who are younger
and who would like to have authority."

It appears that Dean Fisher believes that graduate employees are
like unruly children who are better looked after by the
administration rather than workers who are entitled to the same
rights as all employees – including the right to union
representation. This paternalistic attitude demeans the important
role that graduate employees play in the effective functioning of
the university.

Unfortunately, it appears as if the only way to make the
administration aware of the valuable work that graduate employees
do is for graduate employees to stop doing it. This is regrettable
because strikes impose costs on everyone: the striking workers,
faculty members, the administration and the undergraduates who this
institution is designed to serve.

I would encourage the administration to avoid this by
recognizing the important work that graduate employees perform and
granting them the union recognition to which they are entitled.
Should the administration fail to take this reasonable step, I
would encourage graduate employees to take all necessary action in
pursuit of their rights as workers and the respect that they are
owed.

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