Thursday, September 01, 2005

Which side are you on?

The NY Sun is on top of yesterday's NYU rally, with full coverage and a lead editorial. The Sun points out that fewer than 100 actual NYU grad students were in attendance, which apparently means "that most graduates realize who is on their side."

Yes, the Sun editorial is all about "which side are you on," but in this case it's not either workers or management, but "Defenders of academic freedom" or "the left wing of the labor movement."

By making this argument, the Sun is wholeheartedly buying into NYU's argument that they are opposing the union to somehow protect the academic interests of the grad students. This is the argument that all companies make when they oppose unions: saying "we care" while simultaneously endorsing policies that exploit workers.

By the way, classes don't start for another week at NYU, a fact that the Sun neglects when reporting that "fewer than 100 NYU graduate students joined him at the protest out of a bargaining unit of 1,000."

UPDATE: By the way, Miller did show up.

1 comment:

NYC Educator said...

Isn't the Sun a one-sided, right-wing, anti-labor, anti-union rag? The writing may be a step up, but its not a whole lot different from the New York Post. Why is anyone surprised when they carry such stories?

In any case, it wasn't too bright to run a rally before classes start.