Theoretically, strikes are the great equalizer in labor relations. Theoretically, strikes give workers some hold over their employer, so when they meet at the bargaining table they have some force behind their demands.

But sometimes theory doesn't fit fact, and that may be the case right now at Yale.

For two weeks, the union representing Yale's dining hall and maintenance workers has been out on strike, and there are no signs that the university will agree to submit the problem to binding arbitration by a neutral third party.

One very real factor in the university's refusal to budge may be that--although it's paying $5.65 daily to every student for food--it's actually saving over $150,000 a week on labor costs. Not such a bad thing for a school that ran a $6 million deficit last year.

And Yale's students don't seem to mind the inconvenience of eating in restaurants or cooking (illegally) in their rooms. On the whole, they have not been honoring pickets, much less joining the workers.

Yale says tuition might go up if wages rose, and apparently the Elis are looking after their own wallets right now.

Restaurants near the Yale campus have not experienced any dramatic increases in diners, but grocery stores reported this week their sales have gone up as much as 60 per cent.

But union spokesman Vincent J. Sirabella predicts that the student body will be politicized during the strike--which both sides say may last as long as ten weeks.