There was a time when teaching was thought of as a dedicated and noble calling, where one devoted oneself to the education of others. On the college level, if one spent years teaching, earning the appropriate graduate degrees, and publishing noteworthy articles in prestigious academic journals, then one was awarded tenure, which is a life time appointment. Other than colleges, universities, the New York Transit System, and, of course, the U.S. Supreme Court, there are few organizations that will grant lifetime employment, along with all the valuable benefits that accrue to the tenured.
Now the labor movement, unable to protect automobile workers, who are being rapidly terminated, has decided to organize college instructors and professors of all grades. In fact, the United Automobile Workers unable to get a passing grade from the Big 3 in Detroit, has decided that college faculties are easy pickings. In New York City, for example, the union has been organizing the faculty of The New School University, which is now curtailing its non-credit continuing education offerings. The faculty of New York University has been successfully organized, and George Washington University is in the high caliber sights of union organizers.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has, in most instances, found no fault with the college and university organizing campaigns, so that some colleges and universities are now appealing NLRB decisions to courts of appeal.
Unionization of faculties, both full and part-time, will lead to negotiations about class sizes, scheduling of classes, and the number of classes that one can teach. And if faculties are unhappy with the positions taken by college administrators, then the faculties will go on strike and higher education in the US will sink to a new low.
