Feb. 13, 2003

Management

The calls for unionization of University of California employees ignore the basic premise and foundation of unionization, that management and employee interests differ. In the case of a profit making business, management has a responsibility to increase shareholder value through the efficient application of capital, by purchasing material, equipment and labor at the cheapest price.

No such profit responsibility exists at the Laboratory. Managers here are employees in exactly the same relationship to the institution as non-managers; no responsibility is present to derive a profit for shareholders or owners. (If we were privatized, that responsibility would exist. Downward pressure on wages and benefits would by definition, be forced to increase.)

I, for one, am pleased that we, as Laboratory employees, have collectively determined that our interests will not be best served by the creation of a union and the involuntary collection of dues from paychecks. I believe that my interests and the interests of this institution are best served by working safely, effectively and collegially with my fellow employees, whether their role is engineering, science, support or management.

--David Martin