GET-DOWN not down with unionization

While efforts to convince people to "get down" may seem more relevant on the dance floor than at a union rally, two teaching assistants have done their best over the past few weeks to give the term a whole new meaning. "People seem to appreciate it," first-year physics doctoral candidate Carl Modes said. Modes, fellow first-year physics doctoral student Albert Siryaporn and a "fairly transient" group of between 20 and 30 volunteers are responsible for printing and distributing pamphlets and maintaining a Web site -- makelovenotunions.org -- in a campaign against union representation by Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania. Lampooning GET-UP's informational campaign, GET-DOWN, AFD-CIO -- Graduate Employees Together-Don't Owe Wharton Nothin', American Federation of Drinkers-Chillin' It Out -- started as a "spur-of-the-moment" reaction to what Modes and Siryaporn call the poor quality of the union organizing committee's literature. "They made a pamphlet especially for us [in the Physics Department] with Einstein," Modes said. "I think they tried to make the argument that he was pro-union at some point in his life.... It was just ridiculous." Reminding the community that "getting down is not a fringe benefit -- it is bootylicious," in its first propaganda effort, the "vote maybe" campaign eventually salted its material with serious policy positions, attacking GET-UP's arguments as well as its formatting and fonts. The GET-DOWN Web site, which has registered over 13,600 hits, is practically a carbon copy of GET-UP's own, except for sections reminding Web surfers that "union solidarity is not a practical or viable solution for most issues," "some unions deduct from your pay... even if you are not part of the union" and "strikes are a reality." GET-DOWN has taken issue with not only GET-UP's platforms but also its election-day activities. "We really didn't like that they had staked out Houston Hall" during the elections, Modes said. Additionally, Modes and Siryaporn expressed concern that "the people who are, in a sense, mentoring" GET-UP may be having a negative influence on the union's members -- for example, Modes said he was disturbed by the continuing presence of the radical University of Illinois' grad student union leader Uma Pimplaskar, who was on Penn's campus during the campaign. Amusing as their material may be, neither Modes nor Siryaporn have any illusions about the practical impact they have had on campus. "We didn't really get started until kind of late in the game," Modes admitted, adding that he was surprised by The Daily Pennsylvanian's exit poll results. "We were expecting a landslide GET-UP victory," he said. "I'd like to think we had something to do with that, but it's a bit na‹ve to think so." Indeed, even professors in Modes' own department had never heard of GET-DOWN, while graduate students across the University admitted similar unawareness. Now, between the end of the union election and the resolution of the University's appeal, during which time the election results will not be released, GET-DOWN is "waiting and seeing," according to Siryaporn. GET-UP, meanwhile, seems more amused than threatened by its new rival. "It's somewhat flattering," GET-UP spokesperson Joanna Kempner said. "You know you've made it when people are parodying you."

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