My usual disclaimers apply.
Below is my wish list as a faculty member for what a union should buy me. After all I'll be paying union "fair share" fees. Even though I oppose a faculty union, my wages will be garnished. A new Tax on my salary.
Wish 1) Everyone at SIUE has been asked to do more work for the same pay, therefore I would like a little breather. I wish my service requirements will decrease.
Fact 1) Looking at the SIUC contract it seems that there are even more committees than we have now. The contract requires that this service be recognized as part of my yearly evaluation. Some union service requires that faculty teach reduced loads. My wish is not going to come true, in fact I may be called to do even more service or even more teaching to cover union buyouts.
Wish 2) How about a raise. It has been a while after all.
Fact 2) SIUE is barely keeping both a budget balanced and cash flow moving. There has been some borrowing from Peter to pay Paul so a day of reckoning will come. Somewhere between 80% and 90% of the budget is in salaries. The only way I get a raise is if someone else loses their job or takes a major cut in pay. So much for solidarity.
Last Wish 3) I want to be able to innovate in my classes to help the students learn better.
Fact 3) I cannot make an ad hoc agreement with my Chair to find me time to innovate. Any negotiations about my time must be union approved. It is even possible that my union representatives would speak on my behalf. So much for Freedom of Speech.
I do not see that paying union fees buys me anything but supporting another layer of bureaucracy at SIUE. When it comes to bureaucracy, less is almost always better.
A member of union organizing committee has asked me to view my union fees as buying insurance. If that dark day comes to SIUE, the union will be in a position to "fight" for faculty against "them". The analogy fails for many reasons, but my favorite reason is that if a dark day comes and, for example, SIUE declares a fiscal emergency, then the contract is suspended. The union and the Board of Trustees negotiate who gets fired. We, as faculty, have that same power now without the union, we speak for ourselves through the Faculty Senate, and it is free.
SIUE needs a Faculty union like a drowning man needs concrete shoes. If you have signed anything for the union, you have the right to ask for it back. It is not too late to change your mind and vote for a free SIUE, not for a campus burdened by a faculty union.
