NOVEMBER 1973
THE UNMENTlON~ BLE IN FHRYBOOK LA NO
OR
As one of a handful of men from Liberal P.rts who formed
a chapter of thp. American Federation of Teachers at OSU in 1967,
I have followed with interest and amusement the recent palaver
about collective bar~Binin~. When we formed AFT, we receivpd
considerable vitup~rBtion from some of those who have ~ost
recently joined the cry for collective bargaininR.
In those ~arlier daYs thes~ critics hollered that AFT ~as
a divisive force because it refused to accept that administrators
and faculty were cozy collea~ues workin~ for the same p.ndB.
AFT's position was, and is, that administrators work for thpir
own power, presti~e, and salary increases and they will s~ll
out the faculty to achieve them.
~ith the ascension of MacVlcar, the validity of AFT's
position has become increasing eviden~. In a variety of ways
he has demonstrated both by acts and by words that he is work­
in~ for the bosses above who hold him responsible, and he in
turn is the boss who holdS the minor foremen--deans and chair­
men--responsible. They are his mpn, workin~ for him, not for
the faculty.
r appreciate the honesty of the man in making tha t position
clear. ~e did so the first time hp. met with the Liberal Arts
faculty and told us he would not tolerate our system of electin~
chairmen. He might, he said, go so far as to permit Some seCret
consultations, but he would not alLow sny public votin~ because
the faculty might choose someone who would not do his biddin~
and he would have to veto the choice.
One small ~roup of sycoohants, singing B tune of economics,
chorused the superior wisdom of MacVicar. Althou~h they dtd
not represent t~p majority, the Liberal Arts faculty--the torch­
bearers of Thoreau, Jefferson, Veblen, Socrates, and Christ-~
did not have the ~uts to reflls~. So today we have Secret con­
sultations followed by a or~f@rential vote, the results of which
Bre never reoorted to thp voters. In Short, we can all prefer
Moe, Ret Joe, and never know.
Now that the message of just who it is the adrninLstr.!ltors
work for has gotten throu~h to A number of faculty who refused
to believe it Seven ve8rS B~O, ~e hear a cry for collective
bar~ainin~.
Furthermore, WP receive a clarion call to rally
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November 1973 OSU Faculty Forum Papers
arounrl the white kni~ht who will carry our banner into battle-­
than O~i.A somf'l of ''I1hose illustriOus leAders denlored
none other
. ,
. 1967
the " un i'Jnism l' ant:! lrunprofessionalis mll of flFT back l.n
•
gefor.e I join this latecn~er on the field of battl~, 1
w~nt to know what weapons it is prepared to use.
Talk? Even
thp stu(hmts donlt listen to most of us. Political clout? I­
total of 7,000 or f@wer faculty throu~hout all of Ore~on? Come
now! Thp cOlTlbined clout of lfEA? >1aybe. :Sut will the faculty
rpp.llv benefit fra~ joining itS interests with those of other
~tatp.' p~nlovp.ps7
I cen't forget thAt as a consequence af being
t~rawn into a stat@-~idp e~nlovee grQun 1 now pay, in addition
to the state contribution, twic~ as much as 1 did before for
practically the ~8mp. medical coverage.
8~sid~s, l~bor history seems to show that nu~bers alone
are not effective. The numbers must be mstched by weaoons and
p.:uts. ',.JillOSEP use the waanon found effectivE' by auto workers,
truck nrivers, ~rapp. nickers, areas pace workers, farmers, house­
wives, ~nd filling stati~n opprators? The STRIKEl ~nd the thr~at
of STRIKEl Ahan fAculty requests BrA i~nored by the bosses will
OSEA call us to strike? And if it does, will we have the guts
to ~nswer thp call?
Tell me no tales about nublie employees bein~ barred from
strikine: by state law. Public school teachers in the past ten
years have defied sucn unequal laws. Their leaders have been
beaten, arrested, jailed t and fined. But they have continued
to win contract after contract improving the lot of teachers
and students alike. These successes were not won through the
~a~by-namby efforts of the old National Education Association,
but through the militancy, be it good or bad, of the American
Federation of Teachers. lts thrust hes been so strong over
t~e Dast faw years that even the NEA has now become as militant
or t in some instances, more militant in order to revitalize its
sa~~in~ organization.
This letter is not t however, a plea for you to join "FT.
Our local chapter is ?resently inactive. Nor is it a plea not
to join OSEA. It is simply to Bug~est that before voting for
collectivp bargainin~ or choosing OS&1 as your bargain1n~ agent t
you ask yourself what waaoons you Axpect OSEA to exercise in
your behalf and what weapons you are prepared to exercise in
your own behalf. If neither OS~ nor you are willin~, if
necessary, to use the STRIKE as a weapon against the bosses,
then I su~~est both of you will h
pitulated before the
battle bep;ins.
Robert Jones
Dep tment
October 29, 1973
En~lish