Richard Gelles: The evil of unions

This week, eligible graduate students will be voting on whether to form a union and enter into collective bargaining with the University. A majority of those who vote will determine the outcome of the election. Obviously, those graduate students who are the most motivated on either side of the issue will determine the outcome of this election. I have been a member of three unions, including my 25-year membership in the American Association of University Professors bargaining unit at the University of Rhode Island. The AAUP organized the faculty into a union for the specific purposes of securing fair and reasonable salaries and assuring that we would have reasonable-cost healthcare benefits. At the end of 25 years, I despised my membership in the union and was ecstatic that I was moving to a university without unionized faculty. In 25 years, the union never was able to secure wages that were appropriate for our positions. External forces over which the union had no control largely dictated our compensation packages. The same was true for healthcare coverage. By the late 1990s, our co-pays and our employee contributions were increasing exponentially each year. But the union was widely successful in one arena. It turned an up-and-coming university into a dismal, mediocre academic institution. The vibrancy of merit was replaced with the stultifying culture of mediocrity. During the six years I was dean, I was never able to reward excellence, and I spent thousands of hours at grievance hearings ranging from important matters, such as tenure, to the trivial, such as whether the university could institute a parking fee. I maintained excellent relations with the executive director of the union, and I was often taken aback when the union would go all out to defend incompetent and immoral faculty members. The union, of course, had no choice, as my friend told me. They were obligated to defend each and every member against each and every action of management, irrespective of the absurdity of their positions. I saw well-motivated and talented faculty just throw up their hands when their accomplishments went unrecognized and unrewarded. I saw the same faculty members sink into depression when it was clear that they would be saddled with an unproductive and even unethical colleague for a lifetime. In short, collective bargaining was exactly what it was supposed to be: collective. In my judgment, that corrupted the very entrepreneurial sprit of inquiry. The very nature of the academic enterprise was corrupted. No matter what GET-UP says, they cannot assure their members anything more than the fact that bargaining will be collective. Doctoral students will no longer be individual professionals; they will be part of a collective. The core of what makes us a great school and university will be damaged and, in the long run, corrupted. Whether you agree with me or not, please vote. Richard Gelles is the Dean of the School of Social Work.

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