universities and unions. and pickles.

first of all, congrats to FLOC for their victory with the Mt. Olive pickle company. my wonderful boyfriend was an organizer for them in north carolina and can testify to how bad it was for the farm workers, who worked under terrible conditions and got even worse pay.

anyway, this article from the duke university daily newspaper is interesting in the way it talks about duke's reaction to the boycott. key quote:

Like Duke, Mt. Olive has always taken the position that it is inappropriate for an institution to force the workers of its subcontracted vendors, in this case the growers, to unionize.

why would a university take this position? why do universities take positions at all? do they take positions as ideological/academic institutions? or, more likely, did duke take this position as a business and an employer of probably hundreds of subcontracted workers? and another key quote, regarding duke's decision to rescind the boycott:

“We said all along that we did not differ in the ultimate goals we had in terms of improving the quality of life of farmworkers, but we saw other ways in which an institution like Duke could make a difference,” said John Burness, senior vice president for public affairs and government relations.

really? what do they mean by "an institution like Duke?" do they mean institutions that are intellectual leaders? or institutions that are corporations? why would they decide to support the idea of farm workers getting better pay and working conditions but not to go along with the boycott?

the point is that because universities are regarded as being smarter than the rest of us, and as being essentially good for society, the positions that they take toward labor are important. duke - and penn - are in a position where they may be acting in their own financial interest (or in the interest of not pissing off their trustees), but by doing so they send a message to their students and to everyone else that workers' rights are not important, or not worth making some sacrifice for.