I was a member of United Faculty of Florida and served on the Faculty Senate at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. I felt the atmosphere there was one of constructive, collegial, mutually respectful cooperation between management and the union. In addition, it certainly put someone on the side of a faculty member when he or she had an irresolvable disagreement with a supervisor.

I'm now a member of the Faculty Senate at FCCJ, and don't foresee any real change in the way our Senate will operate if the UFF is approved.

Yet, if you d have asked me last year whether I would vote for a union, I would have said no. I felt then that the atmosphere at FCCJ was already one of mutual respect and cooperation. It seems to me there's been a deterioration in that relationship. I know management feels the relationship will become "us vs. them" with a union, but it seems to me we're already there. It's time to make a change; try another tack; see if we can't get FCCJ back on track being the supportive, people-friendly place it is and has been.

--John Debo, Engineering Technology, DTC