It’s really the same story with unions and the University nowadays. A contract expires, negotiation begins, the union thinks the University is taking far too long to bargain, then the union authorizes a strike. The union makes the University administration out to be some unreasonable overlord, and the University maintains the position that the contracts are complex and require lots of time to settle.

The Graduate Employees’ Organization went on strike in November 2009, following seven months of negotiation to guarantee tuition waivers for all graduate students. After the GEO contract secured in 2009 expired last year, the University saw a similar course of action from both the union and University administration. This time, fortunately, there was no strike.

The Service Employees International Union Local 73 is following a similar pattern. Members of SEIU voted overwhelmingly Thursday and Friday to authorize a strike. The union represents roughly 800 building service and food service workers on the Urbana campus, and they have been negotiating a contract since June.

Each time, including the negotiations with the SEIU, the union feels wronged by the University, and administrators argue that they are doing the best they can, given the lack of money the state provides the school. Whether it’s tuition waivers or higher wages, as is the case for the SEIU, money is almost always the central issue.

We have a University that’s bad with its money and, in the eyes of the major unions it bargains with, is sluggish to negotiate, but we also have unions that are quick to authorize a strike when they are not necessarily needed. 

Negotiating these contracts is complex, and neither side would disagree with that. In most cases, workers deserve to be paid more, and it’s possible the University could be more pre-emptive in negotiating contracts with these unions. But the strike authorizations are getting a bit out of hand.

Strikes are means of last resort, not an offensive. They are a way of making a strong and unified voice, but when they are authorized — to threaten the University — for contract negotiations as freely as they are, they lose their respect with the University and the University population.

The union that represents teachers in the Pennsylvania university system has been in negotiations for 18 months, more than two times the length of any recent bargaining period between GEO or SEIU and the University. That whole time, they have been at work without a contract. On top of that, they just authorized a strike in November.

Every workers’ rights at this institution must be respected — arguably, this University could not function without them — but those workers have to realize that seemingly small demands, such as the wage increases the SEIU is demanding, take time. Meanwhile, the workers represented by Local 73 have wages that are livable still, albeit unfair at times, and are competitive with other area employers. Always demand better for yourself, but don’t get impatient.