First of all, I don't represent GPSA in any way shape or form. I represent myself and am trying to provide a space for students to discuss this issue and provide information they find relevant. Since I am a student I am providing information as I find it. What I have found so far indicates that membership would be mandatory as would payment of union dues. I realize what Washington State law says and am not sure how this applies to academic student employees or if those represented by the UAW at the University of Washington are aware that they do not need to pay union dues if they choose not to. So, do you think the UAW would be interested in representing the students at WSU for free?

Any agreement between a student labor union at WSU and the UAW is negotiated affair. It is a business agreement between student workers and the UAW based upon the contract negotiated for them. I seriously doubt students would ever agree to a fee that cost than the benefits gained through arbitration....

I can hazard an educated guess at why the UAW is involved in attempts to unionize graduate students. They are not an altruistic organization solely bent on providing the power of collective bargaining to us. The UAW is far more interested in our dollars in order to keep their organization viable and justify their continued existence as a politically powerful entity. The reasons behind this are well known to a variety of political scientists, economists, and historians. According to a Washington Post article based on a Labor Department report, the unions in America are suffering under decreasing membership. The 1970s were a high-water point for union membership in the US. Even after steady declines beginning in 1979, union members made up 20% of the work force in 1983. Contrast this to the 12% that make up the labor force of today and you can bet they are hurting for those lucrative union dues of times past. Since their influence in the industrial sector has waned, most labor unions in the US continue to turn their eye to the service sector, particularly education making WSU just one more little cog in their overall plan to diversify and survive. Unions might have been the answer in times past or in different circumstances, but not here. They have many of the same capitalist interests in mind as the large businesses, institutions, and corporations that frequently come into their sights. Unionizing grad assistants at WSU will very likely cause harm to our quality of life as students, the undergraduate population, and will come to reflect on the institution in ways we cannot predict. It will also contribute to the coffers and power of elites which I cannot support.

Feel free to visit the article I referred to:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/25/AR2008012503076.html

Sorry Andrew, if you are implying that Washington state a 'right to work' state, you are wrong. Employees here are, indeed, subject to forced unionization under certain conditions.

For more, feel free to visit the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Inc. at http://www.nrtw.org/rtws.htm.

I also went right to the contract posted online for UW and verified that it does contain the same information Xyan posted in regards to WSU. To the point:

Article 29, Section 1 of their contract states "As a condition of employment, employees who are covered under this Agreement shall, beginning within thirty (30) days of employment or beginning within thirty (30) days of the effective date of this Agreement (whichever is later), either (a) execute a Union membership and payroll deduction form in order to have the appropriate fee deducted from their payroll checks; or (b) if the ASE chooses not to be a member, the ASE shall, in satisfaction of this requirement, execute a payroll deduction form to pay a service fee to the Union; or, (c) in the case of those who are Union members and do not have a payroll deduction authorization in effect, timely pay their Union dues and initiation fees directly to the Union each month, or, in the case of those who are not Union members and do not have a payroll deduction authorization in effect, timely pay their service fee directly to the Union each month, with payments due in either case by the last day of such month."

Article 29, Section 7 goes on to state "Failure by an employee to pay the required dues or fees provided above shall constitute cause for termination of the ASE’s employment. Prior to the time the Union notifies the University in writing that the employment of an ASE should be terminated for failure to comply with this Article, the Union will provide the ASE thirty (30) days written notice of non-compliance."

It seems pretty mandatory to me but you can see for yourself at: http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/laborrel/contracts/uaw/contract/a29.html

It also complies with the Washington State law code RCW 41.56.122 which can be found here: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=41.56.122

Going back to the beginning of the post - Washington is not classified as a 'right to work' state. They are not, on the flip-side, a closed shop state either. A closed shop state is one in which certain sectors, businesses, or industries only hire _existing_ union members. Rather, Washington is a union shop state where businesses and industries can require _upon hiring_ that employees join a union. Feel free to look up the difference: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-closedsh.html