UNIONS can CALL STRIKES that take away your earnings, cripple research projects, and make the University less attractive to students and to government grants (which will find themselves directed to non-unionized universities where the same objectives can be accomplished with less money).

UNIONS DEMAND your LOYALTY at the expense of your commitment to UWO. Unions need an environment of tension and conflict to justify their militant methods of "negotiation." Unions thrive on the "Us versus Them" mentality.

UNIONS COST EVERYONE, and incur costs unrelated to your representation by the union. The UWO Staff Association currently receives $4 per month from its members, a fee which is used entirely for their benefit. It has already demonstrated that $4 per month is sufficient funding for a representative (and voluntary) body.

UNIONS HAVE OTHER USES FOR YOUR MONEY. Unions hand your money over to certain political parties, whether you agree with the stand of those parties or not.

UNIONS TAKE further POLITICAL STANDS (saying they represent YOU!) on abortion, censorship, daycare, and other issues, again, whether you agree with those stands or not. This means that your money could be used against you, supporting causes to which you may be opposed. Needless to add, UNIONS also SUPPORT OTHER LABOUR GROUPS who share their philosophies. In contradiction to the terms of your own labour contract, your union may expect you to honour the strike action of other unions!

Unions protect lazy and unproductive employees (who should be let go), putting a heavier work load on good, reliable employees. More tension, more conflict, more injustice, --- more union unrest!

Once established, UNION MEMBERSHIP IS COMPULSORY, and becomes a condition of employment.

UNION POLITICS in the workplace can cause internal division, tension, and apathy, a situation that openly invites radicals to take over key union positions. Unions resist economic and managerial measures necessary to keep their members competitive in the labour marketplace. Thus, unions restrict flexibility and destroy incentive, resulting in a loss of productivity --- harmful not only to staff and management, but to the education of students, and ultimately to the University's reputation itself.

Once handed over to a union, the exercise of your freedom of choice is no longer yours --- it's theirs. Instead of being treated like individuals, the new rules of the game demand that everyone become a bargaining pawn, used to serve and advance union interests. Unions only think in terms of the value of "jobs", not in terms of the value of "people."

The UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO hired us in good faith, expecting a value for value relationship. Either party dissatisfied with that relationship has the freedom and right to terminate it. No one should have the right to impose unagreed-to obligations on others without their consent.

U.W.O. TRUSTS US. Staff and employees are on an honour system: no punch clocks, easy to arrange hour changes, etc. This climate of cooperation will soon disintegrate under the pending era of divisive union relations. Unions thrive in an atmosphere of distrust, since satisfied employees are poor union prospects.

U.W.O. MAKES OUR JOB POSSIBLE by providing the environment in which we work. U.W.O. has provided full-time employees with optical, drug, dental, insurance, disability and pension plans. It provides employee allowances, a generous vacation policy, education subsidies, and sickness benefits. The U.W.O. has recognized our voluntary staff association which, for just $4 a month, has negotiated an excellent wage and benefit package for its members.

But now that association is telling us that: "Each individual within the constituency will have the opportunity to decide during the coming weeks whether to continue to receive very little return for the intensive efforts of the Staff Association or to step positively into the future."

We disagree. On the contrary, we believe that the wave of the future is voluntary employee and staff associations and the spirit of cooperation under which they are formed.

Our choice regarding a union may well be the last one we'll be allowed to exercise "as an individual". If a union is ratified, INDIVIDUAL CHOICE will be replaced by COLLECTIVE bargaining.