What a union does is replaces a bunch of independent actors with a single monolithic organization. You may be a replaceable cog in the wheel and hence unable to bargain for more, but all TAs together probably can't be replaced. So the union can negotiate a better deal for all of them if they strike together.
Like all competition-elimination strategies, this decreases economic efficiency. However, you shouldn't feel too bad about this: so do corporations, and any other form of organization. People live with big corporations, even if they are ultimately worse both for consumers and for employees.
When unions have struck themselves out of existence, it's usually because the statement "But they'd certainly care if all X no longer worked for them" is no longer true. Most Americans don't give a damn about Detroit and would happily go on with their lives if all 3 American automakers and their workers just disappeared. (My parents haven't bought an American car since the 1960s.) So when the UAW tries to bargain, they just end up taking the corporations down with them.
Unless you work for a really sucky university, I don't think you need to worry about that.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=387027
What a union does is replaces a bunch of independent actors with a single monolithic organization. You may be a replaceable cog in the wheel and hence unable to bargain for more, but all TAs together probably can't be replaced. So the union can negotiate a better deal for all of them if they strike together.
Like all competition-elimination strategies, this decreases economic efficiency. However, you shouldn't feel too bad about this: so do corporations, and any other form of organization. People live with big corporations, even if they are ultimately worse both for consumers and for employees.
When unions have struck themselves out of existence, it's usually because the statement "But they'd certainly care if all X no longer worked for them" is no longer true. Most Americans don't give a damn about Detroit and would happily go on with their lives if all 3 American automakers and their workers just disappeared. (My parents haven't bought an American car since the 1960s.) So when the UAW tries to bargain, they just end up taking the corporations down with them.
Unless you work for a really sucky university, I don't think you need to worry about that.