Dear Colleagues,
Here's another side to the union story: Unlike Stuart, I had a very
positive experience with the American Federations of Teachers/Illinois
Federation of Teachers at Black Hawk College in Moline Illinois. The union
was formed in 1968 and recognized as the faculty bargaining agent in 1983
after passage of a state law requiring public sector employers to bargain.
I was on the first bargaining team that bargained for nine months; the
first contract came with an 8% raise and subsequent contracts have included
nice early retirement packages under which faculty could retire at as much
as 80% of their annual salary, keep their insurance benefits ( with
premiums completely paid for by the College) and enjoy an annual 3%
cost-of-living increment.  None of this would have been possible without
the union. I know--I suffered through 15 years of the bad old days when we
got no raises, no early retirement, automatic pink slips for probationary
faculty every spring, etc.  I'm sorry Stuart had a bad experience, but as
one of the "pigs who ran the farm" at Black Hawk, I can tell you that the
union made big difference in the quality of life for faculty there.
Marcia