Despite the hardships of negotiating its first contract, the Graduate Employees Union should consider striking only as a last resort.

The union is sending ballots to its 1,400 members this week after voting 136-1 Tuesday night in favor of the seeking strike approval. Union members will vote on whether to hold a strike on April 15.

If the strike is approved by union constituents, the issue then will be placed in front of a steering committee for final approval.

It seems MSU’s union is taking an lesson from the University of Michigan’s Graduate Employee Organization, which held a one-day strike last month and settled on a contract six days later.

Jessica Goodkind, president of MSU’s union, said U-M’s organization went on strike when it reached a point that it felt stuck in negotiations with the U-M administration. She also said the MSU union doesn’t feel the same way about its situation, but the union wants to keep its options open.

Striking should come into consideration when negotiations are at a standstill. But it seems both sides of the bargaining table are working to create a solution for contractless graduate employees.

Meetings between MSU’s bargaining team and union representatives have increased from one day a week to three. Goodkind said she felt negotiations with administrators have been improving and both sides are interested in speeding up the bargaining process.

With the progress that is being made, it is hard to understand why the union is threatening to strike.

To have the option to strike is understandable. It’s one of the most powerful tactics unions use, and MSU’s union shouldn’t wait until it feels it is stuck before it has the authorization to strike.

But by having a concrete date set for a one-day walkout, the union isn’t just planning ahead for rough times. And having a strike while negotiations seem to be moving toward a settlement is pointless. We wonder if the union is just going through the motions simply because it has striking ability and not necessarily to achieve an end.

Using intimidation tactics will only advance the union so far. If both sides want to speed up the process, patience and determination need to be the chief tactics.

Contract negotiations are timely and frustrating affairs. Compromise is necessary. But knowing an impending strike looms less than a month away may make university officials cautious and less likely to work amicably.

Graduate employees deserve better wages and health care. And it is important for the union and the administration to work together on a good-faith relationship.

Part of recognizing that calls for the union to recognize that the threat to strike should not be thrown around lightly and could hinder the past six months of progress.