Alexandra Posadzki
CUP ONTARIO BUREAU CHIEF
TORONTO (CUP) – Two Ontario universities are teetering on the edge of a strike, with faculty unions at both schools voted overwhelmingly in favour of walking off the job.
On Oct. 1, the Faculty Association at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ont. voted 87 percent in favour of a strike, Helen Connell, the associate vice-president of communications for the university, confirmed. The union represents more than 1,400 full and part-time faculty members at Western.
James Compton, president of University of Western Ontario Faculty Assocation, said the key issue for faculty is a series of proposals put forth by the university that centralizes administrative control over yearly faculty reviews and make them subject to performance management techniques that are counter to scholarly practices.
These proposals would have a centralized board overseeing faculty reviews, rather than the reviews being considered individually within each discipline. Tenured professors who receive a bad review in one area, for instance, could be disciplined or even dismissed.
“This would weaken the role of peer evaluation and collegial self-government,” said Compton. He adds that the proposal would weaken the tenure system, which is a major support of academic freedom.
“Professors that have precarious employment are going to be less likely to speak out and do research and teaching on controversial topics than they would otherwise,” noted Compton.
“And that is bad for the university, it’s bad for students, it’s bad for classrooms, it’s bad for the broader community, because that is the ma- jor public good that’s produced by the university. It’s what separates universities from high school.”
Western also faces the prospect of a staff strike after the union, representing close to 1,200 administrative and technical staff, voted 95 percent in favour of a strike on Oct. 5 and 6, said Deborah Novakowski, the union president.
Novakowski said the staff union’s chief concern is job security.
Meanwhile, professors at Carleton University in Ottawa voted 88.5 percent for a strike mandate on Oct. 4 and 5, the union’s website asserts.
Jason MacDonald, director of communications at Carleton, said the university does not believe that the union has the right to strike in this round of bargaining, however.
MacDonald said that according to the current collective agreement, the union should have filed their intent to reserve the right to strike three months before their contract expired, something they didn’t do.
In the event that an agreement cannot be reached, the parties should proceed to binding arbitration, said MacDonald.
Neither Western nor Carleton would divulge whether or not classes would be cancelled in the event of a strike, which has left many students anxious.
Nicole Lippay, a fourth-year English student at Western, is scared that a strike might prevent her from graduating.
“I’ve worked so hard to get this far,” said Lippay. “And now at the last possible minute they’re going to go on strike?”
Lippay rents a room in a house in downtown London. If a strike does occur, she will have to continue to pay for that room–even if she wants to go home to Uxbridge, Ont. to work. She will also have to scramble to find somewhere to stay if the semester gets extended, as her lease is up at the end of April.
Lippay is concerned that a condensed semester would sacrifice the quality of education that she will receive; however, she also sympathizes with the faculty’s issues around academic freedom.
“Most of the professors I’ve had are very passionate about what they talk about. They talk very freely about what’s concerning them, and they make an effort for students to get involved in the discussion,” said Lippay.
Negotiations at both universities are ongoing. Connell said that Wester has several negotiation dates set, including Nov. 1 and 2, when both sides will meet with the provincial mediator who has been appointed to assist them in reaching a settlement.
“I believe there’s a lot of good will on both sides to reach an agreement,” said Connell.
