I'm not sure if this has been asked before, but I'm in need of some advice.
I'm not exactly sure I trust unions, but I see no better way at the moment to leverage the power of work.
I work for a public university as an administrator. Our admin group has been exploring our existing union, but there are issues.
It is the policy of the university that while employees may join a union, they may not strike or bargain on wages or other compensation. Furthermore, striking is punishable by termination. We aren't state employees (it's illegal for state workers to strike in my state), as I'm not sure there is a legal basis for that part or bot.
You may not know this. But the general administrator, the grad instructor, and educators/curriculum planners make the least amount of money in the majority of public universities. Granted, some of those administrators may be unnecessary, but that's a different discussion. Does anyone have experience with similar situations? How can a union be meaningful if it is, by policy, unable/ignored for discussions of compensation and has no teeth to carry its claims?