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I was also a grad student at the University of Washington and my feeling was that the union was a net-negative. I remember one time in particular when my adviso
by changoplatanero 5y ago
I was also a grad student at the University of Washington and my feeling was that the union was a net-negative. I remember one time in particular when my advisor had an extra funding source for me but the union rules didn't allow her to hire me in that position. It's hard for me to understand why business the union has in inserting itself in between the relationship between me and my advisor.
On top of that, the union took a portion of pay pay from each check. I wish they would give me a refund.
- skrtskrt 5y agoIn general the presence of collective bargaining is going to limit the presence of the few best case employment scenarios, but with the advantage of preventing a lot of the really bad cases. It is a collectivist action after all. Sure you didn’t get some advantage you could have gotten from a kind professor. But it protected many more people from abuse and low pay
- vorpalhex 5y agoHow did it protect other people? Who were those people? How much were they protected?
- teachrdan 5y agofrom OP: > we had good health insurance, we had a guaranteed minimum stipend, we had the right to actually take vacation during university vacations, and a certain number of sick days. I knew from talking to oother students, that before the union contract, grad students with assistantships didn't necessarily have these things (it depended on department), and sometimes literally got no vacation or allowed sick leave at all.