Time to Unionize

First and foremost I am a writer? Wrong. I teach two sections of composition, dedicate one hour a week to  volunteering in the writing lab, and am obligated to maintain five office hours a week. This does not include the time it takes to prep for a course and grade assignments. Altogether I spend at least 20 hours a week on teaching. As a student, I split my time between two classes geared towards the MA degree. and a workshop This leaves about five hours a week, at the most, to spend on writing--the sole reason I came here in the first place.

There is something very wrong with this picture. In a way, I feel scammed; Drawn to this particular school by its GTA offer then coerced into choosing teaching over studying and studying over writing. Let's be honest. Ever since I arrived, I have done very little writing (and not because I don't want to, but because I signed a contract saying I would work for WSU (and WSU alone) for X amount of hours a week). By signing this document, I gave away the option to pursue other means of financial support and recognized that teaching had to be just as significant as being a student.

It's time to unionize. At the very least, we deserve to have collective bargaining rights so that we can take back some time and use it to do what we came for! TO WRITE! (We are even paying fees to be able to write.)

We deserve health care, less hours/pay raise, complete tuition waiver (meaning NO fees). This is not a lot too much ask for. It's just balancing the playing fields. It's time we show WSU how dedicated we are to writing.


Our branch of the National Labor Relations Board is located in Kansas City:
NLRB!