Now this is going to be interesting

I bet these people have not thought things through - the unintended consequences are going to bite them on their pasty white little butts.

From The Harvard Crimson (their student newspaper):

Graduate Students Start Movement To Unionize
In a move that could alter the working dynamic between Harvard and many of its teaching fellows and Ph.D. seekers, a group of graduate students has begun an effort to unionize, according to members of the movement.

Aaron T. Bekemeyer and Elaine F. Stranahan, graduate students involved in the unionization effort, said Friday that the movement is still in its early stages, but added that it counts members from all three divisions of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Bekemeyer and Stranahan did not share the number of participants with The Crimson.

The Harvard graduate students join peers at Yale in organizing to unionize. If the movement is successful, it could change the way graduate students interact with the University, according to members who envisioned a more centralized complaint system and suggested that a union could empower graduate students in negotiations with Harvard.

There are over 400 comments and these make for some interesting reading. These two caught my eye:

A farmer expects to find rocks in his field and therefore does not cry when he hits one. The farmer will clear the obstacle and move on. Anyone who chooses to go into the research field should know exactly what they’re signing up for when they chose that path. The rewards are plentiful after school and generations before yours have had to pay their dues in much the same way as you are paying them now, so just suck it up.

And:

Based on the history of unions I can't imagine anyone could logically conclude the unionization of grad students would result in a better educated grad student. History suggests standards will decline, quality will decline, and personal initiative and personal accomplishment based on merit will disappear leaving us with the equivalent of a bureaucracy of grad students who function at the same level as a state run Department of Motor Vehicles.

Unions very much had their place in American Labor but they failed to change with the times and are now obsolete. Workers are no longer replaceable cogs in a machine and they no longer need to have another entity negotiate salary and working conditions. The days of the one-factory town are over.

There is a reason why unions only represent 5% of the total workforce and this number is declining.