UAW Calls A Stike

The United Academic Workers Union, which I belong to and represents me, has been attempting to bargain with the CSU system for a couple months now. Our contract has expired but even before that, they were not honoring the negotiated contract. The main sticking point is that we have a negotiated fee waiver which allows the Teaching Associates, Graduate Assistants and Instructional Student Assistants to work only one job as costs for being a student are drastically lower. How much lower? Depending on your position, lowered anywhere from $700 to $1,700 per semester. As negotiations have reached an impasse, the Union called a strike to begin at 7 am tomorrow morning.


I know there are grammatical errors in this post, I am very upset about this whole situation.

On one hand, I understand that unfair labor practices must cease and the only way to make a strike work is for all members to participate. And the service that TAs, GAs and ISAs provide to the university is invaluable. We teach basic courses for our departments, the ones that generate the most Full Time Enrollment which sets our budget allocation by the university each semester, we run lab sections which are required for the courses and we grade papers for full time professors. And that is just a partial list of our duties. In this economy, a tuition waiver really helps us provide the duties we are hired for AND be good students, the main reason we are on campus. Without fee waivers, may of us are forced to take second, sometimes third jobs. Either that or depend on someone else to help us pay out living expenses. Take a look at me, I live at home to save on living expenses (bless my parents for being willing and able to assist me) AND I have a second job on campus.

On the other hand, I think it is kind of a jackass move to ask for a tuition waiver during a budget crisis. The CSU's stance is that they cannot grant the tuition waiver as it will drastically cut the amount of money coming in through student fees during these tough economic times.

But the part that is really getting me is my sense of duty to my students. Those who teach Tuesday/Thursday classes are fine, finals begin on Thursday. They are done with instruction. But I teach Monday/Wednesday/Friday. And I have 9 students giving their last speech of the semester. If only they had waited one more day! Is it fair to these students to hand them over to someone else to grade their speech when I tell them I am looking for improvement over the course of the semester and then am not there to evaluate how far they came over the course of 15 weeks? Especially since the rest of their classmates got the benefit of my evaluation for this last speech, the hardest speech we require them to take.

I am preparing for the strike, have lesson plans ready and I can go in class on Wednesday to explain what is happening and say goodbye. But it is really bothering me. I really like my students, they have been so wonderful this semester. Everyone who has observed or interacted with my class has commented on how unusually interactive and attentive they are. They are great kids. We have so much fun in class, we spend a lot of time laughing. They are so nervous when they speak, it is fair to throw them a curve ball right before they give their final speech? How am I serving the students by stepping out at the last minute?

But that's the point, isn't it?