I’m a member of the Professional Staff Congress — City University of New York (PSC-CUNY) a local union of the American Federation of Teachers. This isn’t an ideological commitment for me; the union extracts dues from my pay regardless of whether I join. If anything, during my years as a corporate attorney I was leery of labor unions, though my limited knowledge of the history of union activity suggests that, like most human activities, unions have done some good and some bad over the years.
PSC-CUNY has been without a collective bargaining agreement for three years. They are now making strike noises. So here is a question for my theology-and-ethics inclined readers: what do I do if the union calls a strike? Under New York’s “Taylor Law,” as I understand it, it’s illegal for public workers (including CUNY faculty) to go on strike. Obviously the New York State government is a Romans 13 authority that I must respect.
But what about the union leadership and the faculty officers in my college? Are they in any sense “authorities” whose contrary instructions about a job action I also must respect? Is a job action the sort of “civil disobedience” that would permit me to disobey the Taylor Law? In this regard, what are the principles of civil disobedience when my individual situation is just fine — I’m satisfied with my own pay, work schedule and benefits — but my “union brothers and sisters” feel aggrieved? Does a law that unequivocally prohibits public workers from exercising the “right” to strike, coupled with hardball negotiating tactics from management, present the kind of systemic injustice that violates God’s higher law?
And, what about the pragmatic side of a strike? If my department supports a strike, and I cross the picket line, my prospects for tenure will be over. In that event, should I accept that consequence and start looking for another job? Or would I be justified in following the union leadership in the strike even if a principal motivation for me individually is to ride out the storm so that I can preserve my hopes of eventually gaining tenure?
Finally, if the union does call a strike, how would I look in a McDonald’s uniform, and would you like fries with that?