Solidarity forever, the union must be strong!

Our union of librarians and full-time and part-time profs voted overwhelmingly in favour of going on strike in the event the present contract negotiations with the corporation are not settled to our benefit. Personally I hope it doesn�t come to that, since it would present undue hardships for our students, especially my soprano who is giving a half-recital in March. The students have been assured that no one has ever lost his year due to a strike, and it is to their benefit that we should have this contract settled.

One of the things our little university is known for is its small teacher-to-student ratio. Over the years, though, the administration has not been replacing retiring professors and as a result departments have lost full-time positions. Our own department is one such case in point. Tom took a three-year leave of absence four years ago so that he could stay in the pension plan, and officially retired last year. Until his irrevocable departure from the university, his position could only be filled by 10-month sessional appointments. Now, a year after his final adieu, the situation has not changed, and we cannot advertise a tenure-track job. How can we maintain our high quality of education when class size increases and number of professors decreases?

That is just one issue on the negotiating table. Professors want more time to pursue their own research and to teach fewer classes. Right now they teach three courses per term, and many are teaching more on a pro bono basis due to the attrition of faculty. Fine Arts suffers the worst plight. They are down to one-half of an art historian and haven�t been granted any new part-time positions, let alone full-time replacements. They are unable to offer the courses they advertise in the syllabus. In the music department, our profs are teaching full loads, plus some, running a concert series, trading the chair back and forth every couple of years; they don�t have a secretary, and students are doing the jobs that an administrative assistant would, meaning that they have to be constantly supervised. There are two full-time profs, one 10-month sessional, and lots and lots of part-timers. It�s an impossible situation.

The union was negotiating a new contract bringing the part-timers into the collective bargaining unit with the vice-principal academic for eight months, and they were making headway. Suddenly the corporation lawyers pulled the negotiations out from under the veep�s feet, barred him from the process, and presented a totally new package to the union which put us back in the dark ages. Hence the call for a strike vote. Wish us luck.

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