Op-Ed in The Blade about BGSU Faculty Negotiations

[1987alum]

PGY: good question.

I've always believed that once something devolves into fight, no one wins. Because once you get to that point, no one wants to lose ... so both sides lose sight of what really makes sense and only focuses on winning. And once the only focus is on winning, it quickly advances into giving no ground.

I would like to think that, in a situation like this, when you have two sides stocked with smart, well-educated people, that cooler heads would prevail. The fact that the faculty felt they had to resort to unionizing is sad on so many levels - not all of which indict the faculty.

The main problem is that unions have only one objective - winning. They exist not to get what's fair or what's reasonable. They exit to get as much as possible. That will put the other side, the university, in a defensive posture where they will not want to give up an inch. Long term, this will lead to a negative atmosphere and I can only assume that will eventually seep beyond the negotiating sessions.

So, yeah, when you only have crappy options, you pick the least crappiest. But if this is the least crappiest, I'm really depressed.

[pdt1081]

The main problem is that unions have only one objective - winning. They exist not to get what's fair or what's reasonable. They exit to get as much as possible. That will put the other side, the university, in a defensive posture where they will not want to give up an inch. Long term, this will lead to a negative atmosphere and I can only assume that will eventually seep beyond the negotiating sessions.

So, yeah, when you only have crappy options, you pick the least crappiest. But if this is the least crappiest, I'm rlly depressed.

If the entity the Union is bargaining with fails, so does the Union. MOST unions know this. They also know that when management is seeing raises/bonuses, the entity is not failing.

That being said, if any group on campus NEEDS to be unionized it is the Classified Staff. They are the ones being s**t on lately.

[PGY Tiercel]

Maybe its the last remnants of idealism in me, but I guess that I feel that Unionized Faculty could be able to remain reasonable and be able to partake in give and take which is why I'm more ambivalent to BG's development.
Then again, I've been watching as unionized GSAs (graduate student assistants, Grad students in most programs who are largely paid to teach while doing grad work. English, Math history etc) are trying to coerce GRAs (Graduate research assistants, Grad students who are paid a stipend for doing research directly related to their thesis) into becoming unionized. Having been a GRA, I know I would never want to have been unionized, and what I see is the GSA's as doing is trying to win without being reasonable.