Question for Christine: Kennedy vs grad students

[Adam Stevens]

At 01:13 AM 3/26/99 -0800, you wrote:
>Well, that's a snide article. I'm a Berkeley graduate student instructor. 
>The UC president finally capitulated this week and said he'd allow
>elections. That strike three months ago was really depressing even though
>we 'won' in record time (perhaps only 12 hours of picketing per person
>over 4 days) - only 2 people out of about 60 in my department
>participated. I would guess that most people in my department have no clue
>about the basic issues involved, and would have no opinion about the
>points that Paul Kennedy raises here. I wouldn't even bring the topic up
>among people in my lab. People don't realize that they're going to have a
>1 billion expected budget shortfall next year, due to hangover from
>decisions made during the Pete Wilson regime, and they're going to have to
>deal with this somehow - the perspective that people seem to unanimously
>hold is that a union is something that unhappy workers form after
>conditions have reached an intolerable point - that it's a selfish insult
>to the administration or 'boss' to say that you favor it.
>Christine>

Christine,

I agree, that WAS a damn snide article.  I'm an undergrad at Berkeley
myself, but I started working as a reader for the history dept this
semester.  Evidently, there was a shortage of grad students who were willing
and/or able to read for this particular class, so I got the job.  I just
graded my first batch of midterms last week and it was a LOT more work than
I had anticipated.  Anyway, I was wondering when the elections would be held
and if the union will represent readers as well as GSIs.  

Adam Stevens