As the United States Steelworkers of America woos them with unionization and the University coddles them with cautionary words of advice, University clerical workers are caught with two powerful suitors fighting for their loyalty. Both sides must take care not to abuse their power so employees have the opportunity to make an informed decision on the issue.

The Penn State Office Workers Organizing Committee hopes to have the 3,000 clerical workers unionize by May -- it must get 50 percent plus one of the workers to sign authorization cards in order to ask for voluntary University recognition of a union.

During weekly informational meetings and occasional visits from Steelworkers representatives, members of PSOWOC hope to sway office workers to their cause. About 200 workers attended the first such meeting, and had the opportunity to sign cards indicating their support.

PSOWOC members have said they will not begin a card-signing push until members believe everyone is informed on the issue. This attitude is good, for it allows workers to hear both sides of an important issue.

PSOWOC believes its concerns -- about health plans, wages, comparable worth, grievance procedures and fringe benefits -- could be addressed more effectively outside of the University system, through affiliation with the United Steelworkers. This may be the case. But it is an issue for individual workers to contemplate -- not for the committee to force, or the University to prevent.

The University, too, must protect its interests without pressuring its clerical employees. It might benefit by communicating with officials at other universities -- such as Michigan State, Yale and Harvard -- where office workers already have unionized.

Penn State officials must be careful not to react abrasively to the concept, as University Director of Human Resources Jim Elliot may have done already. Elliot's comment that PSOWOC's unionization efforts are in no one's best interest is unfair to workers trying to make an informed choice.

In response to office workers' queries about unionization, the University sent informational -- yet persuasively written -- letters, one stating in part: "Although the authorization card may look innocent and signing it may seem insignificant, please understand that a signed authorization card could have long-lasting implications for you and fellow employees for years to come."

Certainly the University should relay its opinions to the workers. But now that officials have sent their letters, they should step away from the issue and allow workers to weigh both sides without employer pressure.

Both the committee and the University have a right to communicate with the clerical workers on the issue -- both have a stake in unionization. But in the tug for clerical workers' attention and commitment, they must take care to state their points clearly, then allow the workers to make independent choices.