I am on strike.I don’t mean this symbolically, like I’m on strike from doing schoolwork, or cleaning, or falling in love. I really am on strike. The graduate student instructors at the University of Michigan are unionized, and our contract is up for renewal this year. They’re asking for a pay raise and a number of other things that are far less significant to me than the pay raise, and have been in negotiations for awhile now. Everyone has known that the strike was looming, and this morning I got my official email that the two-day work stoppage was now in effect and that we could show our support by signing up for the picket lines.
I did not sign up for the picket lines, although I knew someone who did. A friend and I took a break from studying to try to find him, but we never saw him. We did, however, see three separate groups of picketers carrying signs, walking around in a circle, and singing. We also accidentally crossed picket lines, only because we didn’t really know what constituted picket lines.
For me, what the strike means in practical terms is that I am not studying on campus (except that I never study on campus anymore so not much has changed there), and that my qualitative research class tomorrow is going to be held off campus since our instructor knows that most of us will not be crossing picket lines to come to class, and that I won’t be attending the course that I am a teaching assistant for. I hate to be selfish, since this is a strike and all, but it kind of feels like a holiday to have those three extra hours.
I sort of feel like I am missing the whole point of the strike. To me, this is a novelty. I don’t think it affects my paycheck (except my future paycheck) and I get a few extra hours in my day. Plus I get to say I’m on strike, something I’ve never been able to do before, and may very well never get to do again. Most likely the grad students will all go back to work again on Thursday and the University will make some concessions, because apparently this is what happens almost every time contracts come up for renewal. And then life will go on as normal.
4 comments:
Hopefully you don't have your brother's experience (and I don't mean the length of the strike) and get a bill from the union to reimburse them for the strike pay they had to shell out.
Enjoy your vacation, oops, I mean strike.
The union is on strike again?? They went on strike my first year there too. I mean, I did feel a little odd being a GSI and crossing my own picket line to go to class, but it's not like I was out there with a sign or anything. And they had blocked off ALL the entrances to Angell Hall! And that's just annoying.
Welcome to the wide world of striking!! Get out there w/ that picket sign, its a novel experience.
What you need to do is what some of my old friends like to do here in DC.
Whenever a major protest is scheduled here, they like to make the weirdest signs they can think of and walk around the protest acting completely clueless about the specific issue involved. Sometimes, they even act like they arrived at the wrong protest. They have a blast with that.
Alternately, you need to go watch a copy of PCU for suitable protest ideas.
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