In the last thirty-five years, higher education has become one of the most heavily unionized sectors in the United States, exceeded only by shipping, select heavy manufacturing, communication, and professional sports. Unionization in traditional blue-collar industries has declined, which is why industrial unions like the United Auto Workers (UAW) have turned their sights on higher education in their efforts to sign dues paying members. How collective bargaining will affect institutions is still debated, although the facts are changing the context of the debate. Unionization is an entrenched and growing phenomenon among students. Yet campus labor agreements, driven by economics and unpromising job markets, contain boiler-plate language prohibiting strikes, slowdown, and work stoppages and including binding arbitration and, of course, the ubiquitous management-rights clause. A lack of good research on the impact of unionization is a serious handicap, because it inevitably leads to institutional or individual actions taken for emotional or political reasons or as a result of advice that may not be appropriate in higher education. Consider that few individuals who lead major colleges and universities have labor relations expertise or decision-making styles conducive to effective institutional responses to union organizing drives. The author discusses 5 ideas institutions ought to consider when addressing the drive for unionization and it's potential impact, including lock outs.