Gathering in Solidarity

I took picket captain training yesterday at BUFA Strike HQ. It was a long afternoon of instruction in how to apply common sense to a sometimes difficult, potentially volatile situation. The repeated mantra of "Safety, safety, safety!" drove home the reality of the course upon which we may have to embark. This will be an unpleasant, uncomfortable, by necessity adversarial exercise.

I often do a mental run-through of the chronology of the negotiations that have taken place in the last 8 months and I always reach a point where it seems logical to me that this job action could have been averted. BUFA offered to consider arbitration on monetary issues if the non-monetary items could be settled through negotiation. This was BUFA's olive branch, our way of saying that WE WANT AN AGREEMENT, NOT A STRIKE.

The administration refused arbitration, even though the decision on salaries could have been to their advantage.

For some reason, I can't shake the feeling that faculty members have been forced deliberately and cynically onto the road to a strike, with all the tension, frustration, despair, and plummeting morale that comes with a strike.

And I can't help feeling that this behaviour is intended to influence not only the agreement that is on the table now, but also to set the tone for the next agreement to be negotiated 2-3 years from now.

If this is the case, I think the administration has badly misread the membership.

At the General Membership Meeting following the training for picket captains, the turnout was heavy and the mood was grim.

Each of us there knew only too well that the veil of change had fallen over Brock. With this pall hanging over the gathering, the new president's calls to collegiality, as late as the e-mail of November 29, seemed sterile and empty to most seated in the Brock Ballroom of the Four Points Sheraton .

As I circulated the room with my coffee, colleague after colleague volunteered comments on the distinct change and observed that the administration's behaviour towards negotiations was anything but collegial. This was an emergent leitmotif so strong that it was like reading Thomas Mann.

The meeting got underway and the cohesive spirit in the room was palpable. The membership had closed ranks and it was remarkable. Dignified determination fueled by the hurt of betrayal is the best way that I can verbalize what I felt coursing through the meeting.

We have fine, fine leadership in Barry Grant and the Executive.
Thank you.

We have a determined, patient, and dedicated Negotiating Team in Terry Carroll, Chief Negotiator, Don Dworet, Tom Jenkyns, Linda Lowry, Carol Sales, and Kimberly Benoit.
Thank you.

We have an active, organized Strike Action Committee chaired by Miriam Richards.
Thank you.

We have a united, committed Membership.
I am happy to be counted among your ranks.

As a young man, I was taught by my Chinese-Canadian father to avoid fighting at school, to use words as my defence.

"If they call you Chink, ask them if being born in Canada means you are not Canadian like them"

"If they call you egghead, ask them if that is worse than being ignorant."

But my father also warned me that sometimes talking just doesn't work.

Sometimes you just have to stand your ground and fight.