Don’t miss the big picture!

The debate concerning the stressful workload in student unions show that there are many improvements needed. But we must not forget the big picture which is why the student unions have been put in this position to begin with, writes Elisabeth Gehrke.

There has been a rather big debate in Sweden recently about the unhealthy amounts of stress in Student Unions. There has also been criticism against the national union of students for making the issue a political one when “work should be done in the unions”.

Plans for prevention, genuine work on gender roles in student union leadership, reexamination how we treat each other and better communication are key. However I would say the situation in Sweden does warrant a political angle, and I would say a much harsher one that has been discussed so far.

In a nutshell what happened in the past couple years was that the stable funding to student unions in its existing form was removed. It was never replaced with anything sustainable and it all happened at record pace. Student union work was already by its very nature stressful.

Those who work in student union face mountains of expectations from their predecessors, board, institutional staff, the students they represent, the institutional leadership, local policymakers etc. And that is nothing compared to the pressure we put on ourselves, I don’t think I have ever heard a student union rep say, “it’s good enough”.

Many of our institutions also have democratic partnership. It is something to be very proud of, but it also means a great deal of responsibility on the shoulders of the students unions. It is a responsibility that generation after generation of student representatives has fought for.

This partnership is the very core of why we all work too much. It is also probably one of the cheapest ways to maintain and encourage quality in an institution. To say that being partner in university leadership became more challenging after the reform doubled the work and removed most of the funding would be like saying water is wet.

If we are going to have any chance of keeping the influence we have need to wake up and smell the political agenda. Of course those who disagree with student unions want to weaken them and weaken their allegiances to the institutions. It is no coincidence that it is unions at smaller institutions that have been hit the hardest.

These very institutions are the same ones that would be shut down in a heartbeat had our minister of education not been facing a fast approaching election. Public education systems are dependent on democracy and one that includes students, without it we risk losing the fight entirely.