http://www.unionrecord.com/metro/display.php?ID=325 Metro Seattle 2000-11-28
UW teaching assistants plan to strike Monday By Ruth Schubert Seattle Union Record
Hundreds of teaching assistants at the University of Washington plan to go on strike Monday morning over the administration’s refusal to voluntarily recognize their union.
The timing of the strike could wreak havoc during final exams, Dec. 7-14, and some grades would likely be late if professors have to grade the piles of exams and papers the teaching assistants (TAs) would normally take care of.
Last year, teaching assistants at the UW taught 63 percent of lower-division courses and 18.5 percent of all undergraduate courses.
In preparing for the strike — viewed as inevitable in recent weeks —UW President Richard McCormick has vowed to "hold students as harmless as possible."
Plans include sending letters out with transcripts that don’t meet graduate-school application deadlines, blaming the strike.
In a recent letter to deans and department chairs, McCormick and UW Provost Lee Huntsman urged faculty to consider making alternative arrangements for proctoring exams, create alternative forms of examinations and identify and help students who have particularly urgent deadlines for receipt of their grades, among other suggestions. But while they’re not looking to hurt undergraduates, the TAs say the impact they can make during finals week is worth any potential inconvenience to the students.
"We’re looking out for the broader picture of education," said Melissa Meade, a graduate student in communications and a member of the union, the Graduate Student Employees Action Coalition/United Auto Workers (GSEAC). "We really think by gaining bargaining rights it will better our working conditions, which will better learning conditions."
Many students support the strike at this time, despite the disruption it would cause in their classes.
"I think it’s smart to do it at the end, because it makes it clear to the college that ‘we are vital to the school,’" said Jan Rasmussen, a junior majoring in women’s studies who has both a final paper and a final exam due in the coming two weeks.
As recently as a month ago, UW administrators argued that a union would harm the mentoring relationship between graduate students and their professors.
After a series of discussions between the administration and the TAs, however, both sides see a TA union in the university’s future. The only question is when.
"The trend toward unionization of teaching assistants is nationwide," McCormick said. "My own prediction is their recognition for collective bargaining will happen, and will happen in the near future."
McCormick, however, is holding out for so-called "enabling legislation," a bill passed by the state legislature that would define who is in the union, delineate what issues are subject to collective bargaining and recognize GSEAC as the sole TA union on campus. The UW now negotiates with 33 unions on campus, and all of them have enabling legislation.
"Enabling legislation is the way it’s done in this state," McCormick said.
The TAs, however, maintain that there’s no reason to wait.
"We see that as a stalling tactic, basically," Meade said. "We think if you’ re going to sit down with the union, why not do it now?"
GSEAC has lined up support from other unions as well as the UW Faculty Senate. On Nov. 14, the Faculty Senate passed a resolution to "urge the administration and/or the Board of Regents to commence bargaining with GSEAC/UAW."
Metro bus drivers already have said they won’t drive buses onto campus in the event of a strike, Meade said. The King County Labor Council also pledged support.
GSEAC represents about 1,350 teaching assistants, tutors and graders across the university.
Most of the TAs work about 20 hours a week and earn $1,212 to $1,393 a month in a financial-aid package that also includes health-care benefits and full tuition waivers. Graduate tuition is $5,191 per year for Washington residents, $13,404 per year for nonresidents.
After a card-signing campaign last spring, GSEAC affiliated with the United Auto Workers, which represents teaching assistants at about 20 schools, including the mammoth University of California.
In early November, GSEAC members voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, with a final tally of 984-164.
When she’s not on strike, Ruth Schubert covers higher education for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. She can be reached at ibruth at speakeasy.org