The supporters of the Graduate and Fixed-Term Employees Organization (GFTEO) still don't get it: Graduate students at Penn State have tremendously increased health-care benefits compared with previous years, and it didn't cost a dime of union dues. The change from minimal benefits to the greatly improved system we have now did not happen overnight. It took five years of unilateral action by the university and working with the Graduate Student Association (GSA). Had a union been in place, we would still have those increased benefits and each graduate student would be about $1,000 poorer.

Now imagine if the GFTEO supporters worked as enthusiastically with the university as they have worked against it over the past several years. Perhaps they would have succeeded in achieving the dental benefits that GFTEO supporters desire. The GSA has it right; working with the university in a non-adversarial manner achieves results without incurring unnecessary costs.

Unionized Michigan State graduate students, whose health care benefits are much worse than ours, recently received a 2 percent raise, barely enough to offset their 1.5 percent union dues. Penn State graduate students received a 3 percent raise without a union, none of which is consumed by union dues. The decision to unionize is virtually irreversible, so the choice is clear. When asked to sign an authorization card, decline unless you're certain you'll support a union if one is formed.