GESO Is Misguided

The staff has once again adopted a courageous position on workers' rights, allying itself with the oppressed laborer. Our proletarian-of-the-day is now the Yale graduate student.

The staff argues that the question at hand is simply one of union recognition. Perhaps they ignore GESO demands because they know that the demands are unreasonable. One union organizer points out that Yale teaching assistants are paid less than the cost of living. Graduate students have their studies as their first priority; teaching undergraduates is not a full-time job. Should they be paid the full cost of living for part-time work?

Teaching college students introduces graduate students to their future profession and produces mutual benefits. This work provides teaching assistants with valuable experience and important exposure to their intended field. To treat it like an ordinary job is to do it a great disservice.

On a more general level, we have serious reservations about the continued usefulness of unions. They fail to advance the interests of the people they purport to help, and they are essentially anti-democratic.