UNI Communicators' Forum

SEIU Local 615, representing 5,000 workers in Higher Education in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, is soon to enter contract negotiations for over 500 service personnel at the Massachusetts Insitute of Technology (MIT).  There is a deep endowment crisis at MIT as there is at Harvard and other ivy league schools due to investments in toxic assets similar to the crisis in US Banks.  These negotiations have broad implications for how wages and benefits will be realligned across institutions in Massachusetts. 

Our Local has requested that main table negotiations be broadcast to the web to set a new standard of transparency in union negotiations, give our members a look behind the curtain of formerly closed door bargaining, help involve members more deeply with their contract and give the wider community of faculty, students and unorganized staff a chance to understand more about what unionism is about. 

This idea is controversial with many experts in mediation and negotiations who are opposed to the practice because they believe involving constituencies will harden positions and make it more difficult to reach an agreement.  Management at MIT is considering the request but feels it would lead to more posturing and less results.

We believe this thinking is a relic of the past and has not kept up with evolving democratic standards or redefinitions of privacy as a universal value.  In an era where court cases are routinely broadcast and other reality based programming remains popular it is time to rethink old habits.  Certainly, there is a place for privacy and sidebars or breaks from the table will not be televised. 

As always in any new experiement, there are risks and rewards, either of which will not be apparent until the broadcasing is underway.  Unions in America are already significantly transparent by law but private educational institutions are not.  We believe this will level an unequal playing field and ultimately be beneficial to our members.