From strike to deal

The Teaching Assistants Association at the University of Wisconsin and the state finally reached a tentative contract agreement last week. This comes after prolonged negotiations highlighted by an illegal TAA strike, years of bickering and more drama than NBC's early afternoon soap operas.

The terms of the agreement, however, are not to be made public until after the TAA's membership can ratify the deal. As such, on Sunday evening, several members of the Herald staff as well as myself got on the phone and started working on sources for a copy of the terms. One official, speaking to me on background, insisted that the Herald would never get an advance copy of the agreement (we did – as did the Cardinal; this was not the world's best kept secret, apparently) but, with this in mind, repeatedly assured me that it was a genuine compromise in which both sides got what they wanted.

Of course, the TAA wanted free health care. They wanted it badly enough to stage a strike, complete with picket lines and all, for two days on the UW campus.

They didn't get it.

The Herald's editorial board – which I sit on – applauded the agreement in our Monday newspaper, saying it is a fare compromise and about time that the TAA move forward and a contract be ratified. The Cardinal, on the other hand, came down hard on the TAA's leadership for capitulating to the state's demands.

I am increasingly convinced that both papers got it right.

It will be interesting to see over the coming weeks whether or not the deal can make it through the TAA's ratification process and the state legislature followed by the governor's office. If not, what follows will almost certainly be an unfortunate convergence of sad events – negotiations had reached an all-time low already, I cannot begin to even fathom what would happen if the negotiating parties were to be publicly rebuked.

But, regardless of the outcome, one clear lesson can be drawn from this whole ordeal: illegal strikes are a horrible idea.