Letters to the Editor
—Dan Fesenmaier, Munir Mandviwalla, Ram Mudambi, Terence A. Oliva, Eric Press & David Reeb
May 11, 2009
Dear colleagues
We are writing about the labor fee that the union wants to collect from all faculty (or more recently from new faculty). The union has labeled this involuntary fee as fair share, suggesting that non-union faculty are “free riders” who are taking advantage of the union’s negotiations without sharing the costs.
We would like to provide a voice to individuals who CHOOSE NOT to join the union and have a different perspective. We believe in free choice, the right to work, and the power of the individual. Our perspective is that being forced to be part of the collective bargaining agreement is costly and unfair.
The notion of having an involuntary tax imposed on us or our future colleagues seems even more unjust. We are against being coerced by the union into paying them a percentage of our salaries.
We have chosen not to join the union and would prefer they did not represent us in setting our pay raises. The current model is of free choice in which each individual gets to choose whether they want to join the union and pay dues. We have been solicited numerous times in our offices and have received phone calls at home to join the union. There seem to be union solicitors constantly roaming the hallways to get people to join the union. Given that union membership has hovered around 60% for a very long time, clearly, many of us don’t want to join the union.
Please understand that we have nothing against the union leaders and members – it is absolutely your right to join and participate. The union leadership and university administrators involved in this process deserve our respect and thanks for their dedication and efforts. However, we ask that you please respect our right to choose as well and also the right of our future colleagues.
Respectfully,
Dan Fesenmaier
Professor & Director, National Laboratory for Tourism & eCommerce,
School of Tourism & Hospitality Management
Munir Mandviwalla
Associate Professor and Chairman of Management Information Systems
Executive Director Institute for Business and Information Technology
Ram Mudambi
Professor and Perelman Senior Research Fellow
Chairman of General & Strategic Management
Terence A. Oliva
Professor of Marketing
Eric Press
Associate Professor and Chairman of Accounting
David Reeb
Professor and Fuller Senior Research Fellow
Department of Finance
volume 39, number 5
