Back to Brantford on Monday

WLUFA is hosting a rally at Brantford on Monday at 1:30. Facebook-wise, there seems to be a big group attending, and a gang from Waterloo is going to be there. We've got three cars now and if you need a ride there, message me (Anatoly Venovcev) on Facebook or e-mail me at tolyv@hotmail.com. It would be good to have a good presence at their rally to show support, once again, for the Brantford people and organize a sister solidarity group there.

Remarkable Initiative

Another CAS support group formed on Facebook by individual initiative of two wonderful ladies calling for an end to the strike with a fair deal for the CAS. They have created a remarkable website that provides especially useful tools where you can simply input your name, press a button, and send an e-mail to the administration. You can find one for parents, students, alumni, and citizens to fill out and click away.

Send the administration your concern!

Thank You From the SSG

I would like to thank the residents of the Bricker apartments for putting "We *heart* CAS" on their window so that it is visible from one of the picketing locations. It's great to see other students taking personal initiative in creative ways to aid in this crisis.

I'd like to urge everyone - from any year, to put similar messages of support in their residences, apartments, homes or other places of residence. If you wish, WLUFA fliers for such purposes are available at the Strike Office at 255 King St. Unit 6.

What We Can Do

If you have been following up in the blog and the news media - you know that what's at stake here isn't a few hundred dollars, a question on who will teach what course, and a few credits. This fight is about the respect and dignity of 365 people on their right to be academics, it is about Laurier being competitive in terms of education and research, and it is about what it really is really to be a university professor. In essence, it is a fight against the larger trend that's been happening the west; a fight to keep university a university and not a glorified and costlier version of High School. Everyone can have a part to play this, students especially when it is we who are the largest and most influential body at this university. Here's what students can do to help the CAS profs:

• Say a kind word or honk to the picketers.
• Wear a pin, if you don't have one, ask the picketers.*
• Grab an information pamphlet from the picketers and read it, get informed, then inform somebody else.*
• E-mail or call the administration saying that you're not happy with this strike (all the e-mails are to the right of this text).
• Send them an automated e-mail.
  
• Hang a WLUFA poster on your door and/or window.*
  
• Bring coffee, donuts, Tim bits, or water to the picketers.
• Write letters to the editor of The Cord and The Record.
• When you're studying, sit down in the hallway leading to the administration offices while clearly displaying a pin or a poster in solidarity and just study.
• Attend rallies and demonstrations.
• Grab a picket sign and join the picketers.*
• Pass the link to this page to someone else to read.

* Pins, posters, pamphlets, and picket signs can all be found at the CAS Strike Office at 255 King St. N. Unit 6, the "Gemini Jetpacks" building right by "Get Stuffed."

With continued student support and pressure put on the administration we will show the part-timers have our backing and the administration is all alone in this fight. Then, they would have no other alternative than to agree to what WLUFA has asked and end this strike.

Some Really Tough Profs

After two days where I clocked in about six hours total standing on the picket line, I've got to say - Laurier has some really tough profs! I stood on the picket line four times in anywhere between one and two hour shifts and then had to scurry back for organizational and planning duties. But our profs - they had to be out there in the cold for four hour shifts and some of them are old enough to be my grandparents. That takes endurance and that they have a lot of.

They're doing it for the right thing too. By now you've seen what the administration has proposed and what they asked to be competitive, and you should know that the Faculty Association told the administration where they can reach a compromise. Of course the administration refused to budge even when the proposed pay increase would cost them half of the combined wages of the people sitting on their negotiating team (less than a million dollars in a university whose revenue is 159 million) and on the seniority which is free and sensible. In fact, since this whole thing began the administration moved on their original offer by a grand total of 30 dollars... talk about inability comprise.

Now, through sheer pigheadedness the administration leaves students and profs hurting while they barricade themselves deeper inside their offices in the Peters Building. We managed to storm that bastion on Thursday, though we got nothing but Sue Horton's "fair and responsible" talk that, if you check the administration's website, seems to become more and more their mantra their chanting up there. Apparently, fair and responsible does not mean - realistic or competitive. After six months of this backtalk and mediation that took place from Monday morning to Wednesday at 6:00 am, it's no wonder that our part-time faculty is out on strike - they had no choice, as one of my profs eloquently explains in the video.

You've already heard how fair, productive, and respectful labour negotiations are human rights, however, there's a simpler issue at play here - the dignity of Laurier as a competitive institution and its ability to attract a competitive workforce. With the petty sum offered on the table Laurier is still lacking in many regards (among the biggest is job security and salary grid) to other universities, this will not attract new professors to come here. In fact, they will leave, which will devalue the quality of education provided here and worth of the degrees students are working hard to achieve. Already, since last year, I know of four profs that worked here and left since then. One of them works at UW, others in Toronto and other places. What kind of value does the "Canadian Experience" provides when it can't even keep profs from going to other institutions after they accumulated the experience needed to get a job there? In this scheme of things Laurier is missing out and not being competitive.

There really is no fairness in the current system they are trying to change - not in the salaries compared to other universities, not in salaries compared to full-time faculty (the most junior ones make almost twice what they do), not in salaries compared to the time they taught at Laurier, not in benefits they receive from the ones they deserve. The system is unfair, period. It treats academics - who do research, community service, and teaching, like chattel. It gives them a false title of "part-time," as a misnomer for doing much, much more. It then refuses to budge over peanuts.

As a long term goal, both for the quality of education Laurier provides and the future of the academia, the professors are fully justified in their actions - they have every right to withdraw their services from the people who do not wish to fully compensate for them. Now, they brave the winter weather to stand in picket lines for what they support and I am proud to be with them, walking the picket line, showing that the student body cares, and I urge everyone - even for ten minutes, to join the picket lines and help fight the human injustice inflicted upon the CAS.

Rally Tomorrow

Tomorrow (March 20th) if you have time, come by the Strike Office (255 King St. N. Unit 6, right by Get Stuffed), at 11. We, the students, will walk through the campus and gather as much student support as possible. Then, we'll go to St. Michael's parking lot by 12:00 and till 2:00 there will be a rally from all sorts of supporters, both part-time faculty, full-time faculty, staff, students, and supporters from other universities.

Come out and support, they need our help!

The Strike Vote has Passed

From the WLUFA website:

The CAS Strike Authorization ballot was completed today.

89.4% voted in favour of authorizing the WLUFA executive to call a strike if necessary.

The teams will be in mediation on Monday March 17th and Tuesday March 18th. The Bargaining Unit will be in a legal position to strike as of 12:01 am on Wednesday March 19th.

Now, before anyone panics let it be emphasized - this does not mean there will be a strike. It only gives the executive power to call for one if mediation on the 17th and 18th fails. If anything, this vote says that a strike may be averted because it puts more pressure on the administration to settle. Also, look at that number and what it is saying - there are 365 CAS/part-time profs now at Laurier and 89.4% are fed up with the way they are being treated by the administration, so much so, that they are willing to do the most drastic labour action they can to fight for their livelihood. If all 365 of them voted, 326 of them are fed up with their working conditions to that point - that's a lot of our profs very, very upset.

It's paramount now that we stand behind them in this time of need and much still depends on us, the students, who have a big stake in these negotiations - we must pressure the administration to settle, the profs need our support. So, even if it's for a few minutes, show up to our demonstration on Monday 17th at noon - it will be leaving from the Dining Hall, concourse, and the Science Building atrium to gather in the quad outside of the Fred Nichols Campus Centre by about 12:15-12:30. We need more people there to show that Laurier stands united behind the part-timers!

Hit the Classes!

Next week WLUFA is having a strike vote allowing its leaders to call for a strike after March 19th. It feels odd to imagine that most students still either do not know, care, or know enough about such a proceeding that could shape their year so much - in two weeks time they might have to cross the the picket lines to get to those classes they still have. That is, if the full-time faculty, which overwhelmingly supports the part-timers, decides to cross the picket lines themselves to teach. That says nothing of the staff knowing that they are also extremely supportive of WLUFA. The university might grind down to a halt - all to send a message to the administration.

The great misfortune is that the collateral damage of all this, the students, have also the most powerful voice on this campus over what gets done - when all 14,000 of us speak, everyone has to listen. Collectively, our concerns have force. What people need to be is informed and how best to do it than speaking in classes?

Just recently we made the petition available for download, so print a few off and distribute them on campus and give it to your friends to sign but most importantly - ask your profs if you can speak in their classes. All four of mine (two part-time, two full-time) allowed me to stand up and in the first or last ten minutes of a class give a brief summary of what's going on, pass around the petitions, urge everyone to e-mail in, and then answer a few questions. You should do the same. After you gather the petitions drop them off at the WLUFA office in 2C12. We have over 1,600 signatures now, imagine if every class had somebody give a talk. It would be remarkable! 14,000 well informed, unhappy individuals will give the leverage our part-time profs need in order to avoid a strike and get what they want in terms of compensation for all the hard work they do in teaching courses because, let's face it, 6,000 dollars a course is minuscule. They deserve much more.

But more so, we have requested permission from profs to come and speak in their classes to inform the students and circulate the petition around even more. Majority have replied favorably, so much so, that two people can't cover them alone. So we made the schedule of classes which would hear what we have to say available for everyone. Now, you can just e-mail the prof that teaches the course, come over with a few petitions, give a talk, and then gather the signatures.

With many people, working separately in their free time but for a collective goal - they will get it. We have done much, there has never been a student-run, student-organized group helping the faculty in their negotiations, it's unprecedented. What we need now is the use of people's individual initiatives - the burden of change falls on us.

Petition Available Online

We are entering a crucial time in our school year where we actually have a date for a potential strike - March 19th. To avoid this we have made the petition available online - http://www.youshare.com/view.php?file=petition.pdf. Feel free to download it, print it, distribute it to your friends and in your classes, then bring over the WLUFA office in 2C12 where we will pick it up. To your parents, send out this link so that they can sign the online version - www.thepetitionsite.com/1/support-laurier-part-time-faculty.

Above all, let me urge you all to step up what you have been doing - this is a critical time in the negotiations which may make or break the term. Download petitions, send e-mails to the administration, talk, rouse up support - we've got less than two weeks left to make an impact and the more people are doing this, the better.

State of WLUFA Negotiations

I tried to get as much information as I could from WLUFA about the current state of the negotiations before I made this entry. You can read their latest newsletter here: http://www.wlufa.ca/negotiations.html.

As for our own research, I have both good news and bad news. The bad news first - as you might have gotten from the linked page above, as many expected, the conciliator did not resolve the issue between the part-timers and the administration and the negotiations continue as well as preparation for a strike on the part of the part-timers.

The good (and really the best) news is that our actions have not went unheard - the part-time faculty is re-energized by the burst of support from students. In less than a week, we have gathered over 1300 signatures of the petition and hundreds of leaflets with the e-mails of administrators have been given out. Such enormous support on behalf of the student body has not gone unnoticed by the administration who allowed the negotiations to progress a little before grinding them back to a halt again.

What this shows is that if we want these negotiations to progress and end in peace and if we want to save our semester from a part-time faculty strike, the burden of progress falls to us - more signatures, more e-mails, more concerns, more talk. The Cord will be publishing another article on the issue tomorrow while we are hitting the concourse and the public places. Feel free to come by and grab a petition in order to circulate it to your peers, friends, and classmates. In the next few days we'll try to make the physical version of the petition available online for download. In the meantime ask for a copy of the petition from me (tolyv@hotmail.com) or Terre (terrester@gmail.com) and we'll gladly e-mail one to you. Take a personal initiative - there's no reason why this movement needs to be centralized. All the while, send this link of the online petition to out of town friends and family members who also need to have a say on the issue - http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/support-laurier-part-time-faculty.

Brief History of Negotiations

In the past couple of days as gathering the signatures took a toll on us in our daily life, we realized that we can’t, due to time constraints, carry on this campaign just on the backs of three people. So, I decided to write a short history of the current labour dispute between the CAS (Contract Academic Staff) and the administration in hopes that people will be more knowledgeable and hence more willing to run the table, spread the petition, and talk to their peers about this topic that’s so crucial to everyone’s education at Laurier. A detailed story of these talks can always be found at the WLUFA website (www.wlufa.ca).

According to the terms of the last contract between the part-time faculty members of WLUFA and the administration the part-time faculty received 6,000 dollars per half-credit course with often little or no benefits in terms of dental, health, retirement, or job security. Further, few part-time professors had adequate offices in which to meet the students and answer their questions about course material. Despite the name, many of the part-time faculty taught five or six courses a year (five being the typical for full-time faculty) while at the same time being at Laurier for many, many years. This amounted to a petty wage of 30,000 to 36,000 a year that had to cover their living and research expenses. It is no wonder that many of them taught during the summer and worked at numerous universities in the region, some driving for hours for work.

Despite these atrocious conditions in the past five years the university administration siphoned off 20 million (20,000,000) dollars from education and into building and renovation work – none of which went into building offices for the part-time professors.

In the middle of 2007, the CAS contract expired and the negotiating committee began negotiations for a new one on August 29th. Their aim was to improve their pay and benefits, ask for better working conditions, and introduce a new system for job security based upon the years they taught at the universe, not by the years they taught a particular course. While some of the more trivial aspects of the contract got renewed, the administration bargaining committee (hindered also by a much less experienced negotiating team) would not agree upon those key issues. And so, with little competence and sheer stubbornness left over from the previous presidency, negotiations that were supposed to end in the fall dragged unto past Christmas in a literal stalemate – the administration refuses to admit that part-timers, despite teaching 33% of the courses and 40% of the students, play an integral part in the workings of Wilfrid Laurier University.

With negotiations looking bleak and the prospect of a strike becoming more likely by the moment, the students who have been hearing about this predicament formed this group and began working toward informing and getting the students involved in these negotiations. It is a fact that the students comprise the most numerous and the most powerful group at the university since it is their tuition fees (especially when combined with government subsidies) that funds this university. In basically two days last week – Wednesday and Friday, we gathered close to 1000 signatures from concerned students who care about their part-time profs which is quite an accomplishment for a movement organized by basically three full-time students.

While word reached us that we are making some effect – both in re-energizing the part-time cause and being a pain in the ass to the administration with the long stream of e-mails flowing into the inboxes of the administrators. We fear it might be too little, too late. On Friday, as many of you know, the CAS bargaining team and the administration bargaining team met with a third party conciliator to break the stalemate. While the latest Cord article might have you believe that the negotiations are progressing nicely, it is either a straight-faced lie in a vain hope that we are as naive about these issues or Kevin Crowley, Associate Director of News and Editorial Services at Laurier, is ignorant of the issues. A conciliator is never called in when the negotiations are progressing, but the opposite, when there is a deadlock and it is the last chance to settle the affair before there is a strike. In fact, when the full-time faculty negotiates for a new deal they have a new contract within two months, now it’s been six.

Even though we try to be optimistic that the meeting with the conciliator, which dragged late into the evening, would be productive – we get every indication that both sides were too far removed on their positions to come to any agreement. If there is no mutual agreement within two weeks the part-time faculty are legally allowed to strike and they are preparing. It’s now only a matter of time unless something gets done.

So, let us send more e-mails (and calls) to the administration, send more encouraging e-mails to the part-time faculty, give this link to anyone who can’t sign the physical petition (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/support-laurier-part-time-faculty), And most importantly join us on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we’re we’ll be circulating more petitions in the concourse and speaking to classes and making every effort possible to avoid a strike and give the part-timers a favourable deal. The task is a hefty one but there are 14,000 of us and we can do it.

Act

There has been expressed to us on what students can do to act in support of their part-time profs, both to prevent a strike and because they are such great instructors. So, we will lay down everything a student, a parent, a friend, or just a concerned individual can and should do.

First, if they have Facebook, join the part-timers support groups here (Wilfrid Laurier only) and here (global). It should be noted that only people with Facebook accounts can see these pages, unfortunately.

Secondly, if they don't have physical access to Wilfrid Laurier, being a concerned individual some distance away, they can sign the online version of the petition here. Only one signature per person please. They should also not hesitate of sending out the link to the online petition (www.thepetitionsite.com/1/support-laurier-part-time-faculty) to anyone who wouldn't mind signing it.

Third, e-mail or (better) call the head administrators of Wilfrid Laurier University to express your concern for the issue. From what we have heard, our actions are making an impact on the negotiations. The full list of people who can influence the negotiations are as follows:

Max Blouw (President of the University) – max.blouw@wlu.ca (519) 884-0710 ext. 2250
Beverly Harris (Chair of the Board of Governors) – bharrison@wlu.ca (519) 884-0710 ext. 2443
Sue Horton (Vice-President: Academic) – shorton@wlu.ca (519) 884-0710 ext. 2221
Jim Butler (Vice-President: Finance & Administration) – jbutler@wlu.ca (519) 884-0710 ext. 2248
Scott Hayter (Vice-President: University Advancement) – shayter@wlu.ca (519) 884-0710 ext. 3173
Leo Groarke (Vice-President: Brantford) – lgroarke@wlu.ca (519) 756-8228 ext. 5702
Paul Maxim (Associate Vice-President, Research) – pmaxim@wlu.ca (519) 884-0710 ext. 3601
David Docherty (Dean of Arts) – ddocherty@wlu.ca (519) 884-0710 ext. 3690
Charles Morrison (Dean of Music) – cdmorrison@wlu.ca (519) 884-0710 ext. 2151
Lesley Cooper (Dean of Social Work) – lesley.cooper@wlu.ca (519) 884-0710 ext. 5252
Ginny Dybenko (Dean of Business) – dybenko@wlu.ca (519) 884-0710 ext. 2671
Deborah MacLatchy (Dean of Science) – dmaclatchy@wlu.ca (519) 884-0710 ext. 2401
Joan Norris (Dean of Graduate Studies) – jnorris@wlu.ca (519) 884-0710 ext. 3324
David Pfrimmer (Head of the Seminary) – dpfrimmer@wlu.ca (519) 884-0710 ext. 3229

Fourth, e-mail your part-time/CAS profs and voice your support for the education they are providing and the steps they are taking to be recognized as contributing members to the Laurier community. Also, consider e-mailing this special list of people who comprise the CAS bargaining team. I was talking to one of them and they are very happy for the support they are receiving:

Doug Lorimer (History) - dlorimer@wlu.ca
Jonathan Haxell (Archaeology and Anthropology) - jhaxell@wlu.ca
Mike Skelton (Library) - mskelton@wlu.ca
Laurie Blaikie (WLUFA) - lblaikie@wlu.ca
Michele Kramer (English and Film Studies) - mkramer@wlu.ca

Fifth, hit the classes - ask your profs permission to come and briefly speak and do it. This information needs to be distributed.

Finally, go to the WLUFA website and read up on the topic. Get acquainted and help us spread the news of the negotiations to everyone because we always could use more people talking and circulating the petitions, even if it's just for half an hour.