Yesterday's editorial cartoon minimizes and ridicules the necessity of unions. Without unions, there would be no eight hour maximum work days and no extra compensation for extra worked hours. Our wages would still be below the minimum standard wage, young children would still be working in factories, etc. Obviously, the cartoon is satirizing how different groups of people have embraced unionization efforts. By portraying a bunch of "slackers" demanding unionization, you enervate the aforementioned and other benefits that unionization has brought forth in our society. Those of us who represent graduate students as well as others, work extremely hard to receive low wages, inadequate health benefits and care.

Graduate students everywhere will tell you that the "collegial" model of faculty/graduate student is ineffective: Graduate student contracts are not followed through and are either ignored or abused. There are no official procedures to file complaints concerning faculty, and there is little faculty accountability concerning their treatment of graduate students.

I believe that all forms of criticism such as editorial cartoons are important in our open and participatory democracy, nevertheless, people need to understand the context of the criticism.