Although the University of Michigan’s graduate student union held a one-day walkout Monday, MSU’s Graduate Employees Union should not follow suit.

Nothing good would come from a strike, and all involved members of the MSU community - administrators, graduate and undergraduate students - would be hurt by the decision.

Last week, members of U-M’s Graduate Employees Organization voted 462-106 in favor of the walkout.

The organization, which represents 1,600 graduate student instructors and staff assistants, has been negotiating with U-M since October.

The organization’s president said if contract negotiations are not closer to settling by Sunday, the group will vote to strike indefinitely. While MSU’s graduate organization hasn’t formally supported the strike at U-M, Jessica Goodkind, MSU’s union president, went to Ann Arbor to help picket.

Other schools across the nation are participating in this trend to either unionize or strike for higher wages, better health care and more. The University of Illinois’ graduate employees plan to strike next month and resident assistants at the University of Massachusetts developed a union. Columbia University teaching assistants plan to vote this week whether to unionize by joining the United Auto Workers.

But it’s important for MSU administrators and graduate students to work together through negotiations and to treat each other with respect. Striking will only make the negotiation process more painful and complicated.

University officials and members of MSU’s graduate union should do everything in their power to come to an agreement with the university before a strike should be considered a possibility.