Before we start a war about my little quip, let me confirm in spades that
i agree with everything jerry says here:
>------------------
>I would not give others the same advice. While I have no doubt that
>Bill's story is factually correct in all of its details:
>
>a) academic unions vary internationally;
>
>b) labor law does as well (e.g. if a union in the US accepts dues from a
>member they are legally expected to represent that member and can be
>sued if they don't [many have sued unions successfully for failure to
>represent and have won significant awards].
>
>c) while part-timers and adjuncts can form their own unions [an
>increasing trend in the US], being members of the same union allow them
>to influence union policy [especially in unions where there are
>significant #s of part-timers], and is to be preferred [ceteris paribus]
>for reasons of unity, solidarity, and strength [also for financial
>support from the parent union].
>
>d) since the principle of one member-one vote holds in unions, this gives
>part-time and/or adjunct faculty tremendous potential clout where they
>have large numbers. At some schools, they are a _majority_ and can,
>therefore, seize control of the union in the election process. For
>example, at one school where I teach as a part-timer I was elected the
>union representative for _all_ (FT & PT) faculty and professional
>staff. This contrasts to _faculty_ committees where faculty are treated
>differently by rank and where PT faculty frequently have no voice or vote
>or are afraid to exercise those rights for lack of job security and,
>consequently, possible retaliation.
>
Jerry also mentioned bmy quip about being a HOD.
[deletions]
>If a "radical" does become chair, what should s/he do when the budget
>cuts and austerity measures are introduced? One could then either lead
>the struggle against those measures and/or threaten to resign. It doesn't
>always work that way in practice, though. It has been my experience that
>"radicals" in theory can frequently be conservatives in practice. At some
>schools, discriminatory firings are initiated by "progressives." It seems
>that when progressive individuals assume mgt. positions they generally
>become part of mgt. and thereby lose their progressivity in practice in
>order to maintain their mgt. jobs.
>
if pen-l would like a report from me on how i am coping with being a HOD in a
time of considerable structural change in OZ unis and in a faculty (dept) which
is facing major budget cuts and a necessity to reduce our staff levels, sing
out and i can tell you the whole gory story.
it is not true though that one automatically becomes one of the management. and
it is not true that b/c one seeks to fire people that they are acting against
the interests of the working class. it is very complex and i have a lot of
experience at working through these type of issues (for louis et al) *in the
real world* of academic industrial relations.
kind regards
bill
------
#### ## William F. Mitchell
####### #### Head of Economics Department
################# University of Newcastle
#################### New South Wales, Australia
###################* E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
################### Phone: +61 49 215065
##### ## ### +61 49 215027
Fax: +61 49 216919
##
WWW Home Page: http://econ-www.newcastle.edu.au/~bill/billyhp.html
