I don’t want to romanticize unionization. There are still a lot of genuine differences and disagreements with administrators, trustees, resolutely anti‐union faculty members, and statewide affiliates. And no matter what system you have, dumb people in key positions making dumb decisions can always make things bad.
But the state of shared governance on our campus right now is the best it has ever been in the fifteen years I have worked at Western. And the biggest reason for that is that our faculty now have the statewide strength and campus clout that comes with collective bargaining.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Unionization and Shared Governance in Western Washington
The AAUP's Journal of Academic Freedom has just published a positive account of the role of unionization at the University of Western Washington. The main thesis is that unionization preserves shared governance (rather than undermining it, as is sometimes argued). The conclusion:
1 comment:
I will review and post comments as quickly as I can. Comments that are substantive and not vicious will be posted promptly, including critical ones. "Substantive" here means that your comment needs to be more than a simple expression of approval or disapproval. "Vicious" refers to personal attacks, vile rhetoric, and anything else I end up deeming too nasty to post.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
There was an interesting article about unions in the Chronicle of Higher Education this week too. I think this is probably a more objective perspective:
ReplyDeletehttp://chronicle.com/article/What-Good-Do-Faculty-Unions/127333/