Friday, December 4, 1998
If teaching assistants win, student education suffers
UNDERGRADS: Union will result in higher class fees, hurt quality
of instruction
By Maclane Key
As a graduate student and former teaching assistant, I’m
saddened that some of my fellow graduate students in the University
of California system are playing politics with the academic lives
of the undergraduates. It’s clear that they care less about their
students than they do about their precious United Auto Workers
union. But what is truly shocking is that some undergraduate
student governments, like the one at UCLA, are supporting the
strike.
Historically, unions helped do away with dangerous working
conditions, but that is not the goal of the TAs currently on
strike. When is the last time you heard of a TA being rushed to the
hospital due to some grading- or lecturing-related accident? The
only thing that recognizing the TAs as part of UAW will accomplish
is that TAs will start bargaining to get more money for less
work.
As they get their way through more class-disrupting strikes in
the future (don’t be foolish enough to think the strikes will end
if they are recognized), undergrads will end up paying more for
poorer quality instruction. This is directly against the interest
of undergraduates, yet some of their governments are throwing their
constituents to the wind in support of their union buddies.
Undergraduates should be outraged. Even if you are not a
graduating senior this quarter, what if you are the next time these
union thugs decide to hold your grades hostage? Do you really want
your TAs to be able to bargain to get away with doing less for you
in your future classes?
Additionally, these striking TAs knew exactly what the
conditions of being a TA were before they agreed to do it. If they
didn’t like the fact that their UAW affiliation wasn’t recognized,
they should never have become TAs this quarter. Instead, they chose
to TA just long enough to hold undergraduate grades hostage when
dealing with the administration.
Undergraduate student governments should demand the
administration immediately hire people to replace the striking TAs
so their constituents’ educations are not disrupted.
Undergraduates must not remain silent in this battle, because if
the administration caves in, you lose. The quality of your
instruction will go down, your fees will go up, and your grades
will forever be subject to being withheld because the union is
unhappy with something. Let your voice be heard by the chancellor
and by your student government. Let them know you want the striking
TAs replaced by TAs who actually care more about your education
than about the UAW union.
Comments, feedback, problems?
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