"Our goal is to publish thoughtful commentary..."

An op-ed piece by four UM professors, David Abraham (Law), Lillian Manzor (FLL), Hugh Thomas (History) and David Wilson (Biology) appeared in today's Sun Sentinel:

"The janitors and groundskeepers on strike at the University of Miami are protesting unfair labor practices by their employer, UNICCO. Many of the alleged practices concern interference by UNICCO with the workers' legally protected rights to unionize.

The law provides two ways for workers to unionize. One is by an election run by the National Labor Relations Board. The other is by a card check process, in which workers sign cards, counted by a third party, saying that they want a union.

Unlike NLRB elections, however, card check requires the employer to agree. UNICCO refuses to agree. Why?" [continue]

At the same time, you have probably noticed something in today's Miami Herald by President Shalala saying that the university has nothing to do with this but that UNICCO's position is right and the union's wrong. You may therefore be interested to learn that the very piece in today's Sun Sentinel was rejected a few days ago by the Herald with these words from Joe Oglesby, the editor of their opinion page:

"Your piece represents a set of facts by one side of an ongoing, hotly debated dispute, about which we've published several columns from various perspectives.

When we publish the views of partisans, we find that that only generates responses from partisans on the other side who present their version of the fact just as persuasively.That puts us in the middle of a dispute in which each side demands a chance to respond to what the other has said. We're not interested in promoting that kind of fight or in becoming a part of it. Our goal is to publish thoughtful commentary, ideally by disinterested or objective parties, who can put these events in context and/or add to our collective understanding.When we find articles that do this, we will publish them."

If you feel like we do, you may want to point out to Mr. Ogelesby a small gap between his words and his deeds. You can do so at HeraldEd@MiamiHerald.com.