union campaigner from hell

No my finger has not healed, yes it hurts to type, but I'm pissed and need to vent. I was sitting in the grad lounge today during my writing lab hours when a woman invited herself in. She handed me a card to join the Cal State University UAW (United Autoworkers) union. You see there's been a movement underfoot to unionize for higher wages and benefits. Fair enough and I support that cause but it doesn't mean I'm going to jump right in and blindly join a union like so many people do. I explained to the woman that I wasn't quite ready to sign up. She pushed me for a reason why and I explained that I have some bad experiences with unions. Take for example the fact that the labourers at a concrete company my dad worked at decided to demand wages that the company simply could not afford. Although my dad was only a purchasing manager, he was forced to spend week upon week in court for union negotiations that wore him out and costed the company thousands of dollars.Ultimately the dispute caused the company to go under. That put my dad out of a job and my family out of an income. Oh and the labourers were out of work too. Lose lose situation.

But that woman would not take no for an answer. Every time I said something she either insulted me ("Oh, so you can't sign up because of YOUR DAD???!") or twisted my words around. When I said I wasn't yet clear on all the issues and fine print and just wasn't ready to dive into this union yet, she translated that into "So you're saying you don't care about your fellow students and you can't spend even $1.72 a month to support the rights of workers who are treated unfairly?!"

Uh no, that's not what I said. This went back and forth for about 15 minutes as she went from "asking" for support to pitching an all out fit. I decided to halt her onslaught of verbal harrassment and intimidation by calmly saying, "Look, I hear what you're saying and it's all fine and good but..." and I was about to say for the millionth time, "I'm just not ready to sign up right here and now". But she cut me off at "but" and yelled like a 3-year-old throwing a tantrum, "NO IT'S NOT ALL FINE AND GOOD." Finally, she picked up her bag and left.

I was on the fence because the issue with my dad's experience with a union which left my family without an income. I was also hesitant because unions in America tend to be staunchly anti-H1B visa for foreign workers (something I support for obvious reasons) and anti-outsourcing (what I believe to be an economic reality as per my post below). There is also no room for dissent in a union, you either do as they say or get pelted with rocks and eggs literally. Still, I honestly was on the fence because I do feel that our wages and benefits are too minimal for the work we do but if joining our CSU union means being on the same team as that crazy bitch, I'll have to respectfully decline. I refuse to be harrassed and intimidated into doing anything.

If I had to choose between getting screamed at by a union campaigner or getting conned into going to bible study by someone who kisses my ass by saying they like the shoes I'm wearing, I think I'd choose the latter now that I've experienced both unfortunate situations. What's that saying about attracting bees with honey or vinegar?