Yes, I am a bit late with this -- had an e-mail from my friend Roger Moore in New Brunswick telling me that he had already heard a tentative agreement had been reached. And students have been sending comments to report the same .
What a wonderful wonderful piece of news. Students will still find it hard to go back to studying after all the anxiety, but what a relief for all of us in the trenches, students and faculty alike!
Still, there is a dark corner of my mind that keeps nagging at me: "Could we not have settled this two weeks ago without putting the most important stakeholders, our students, through this night of hell?"
Oh, shut up Barry!! Push those dark thoughts aside, it's time to celebrate!
16 comments:
Yay!
I had the same thoughts regarding the settlement. I still can't figure out why the administration would wait so long to come to a settlement.
But in the end, it doesn't matter.
There is no strike and we can get back to our exams and essays without the added stress that we might be writing in January.
Nay! :(
Thank you for keeping us updated!
Iris
Does the fact that it is 'Tentative' still mean there is a possibility of going on strike tomorrow. Does the association now vote on this tentative deal??...how does it go from now??
Thanks for keeping us updated throughout.
Nope, no strike tomorrow. Tentative means that they vote on it. If for some reason it is turned down, they go back to the table and try again to get a deal.
Great news. This would have been really bad for the reputation of the institution, more than the harm it would have done to us the students!!!
Thank you so much for keeping us posted through this ordeal
Your blog is a nice change from the administration's lack of information
I hope that in the end the students and profs can heal bitter feelings towards the administration and continue to excell :D
Thanks again for letting us in to see your personal side of the negotiations.
Best of Luck
But, and pardon my paranoia. We have not heard from BUFA yet. Has anyone had confirmation from the union that this is in fact an agreement?
Dan M
When all the dust settles, we can calmly and dispassionately go over the whole process and analyse what went wrong. It is important that we learn from this disturbing experience and do the necessary to ensure that faculty and students are never put into this unsettling state of uncertainty again. Brock's distinctive traditions and culture have been severely tested by the events of the past weeks. But it is these matters at the heart of what we are that are the most valuable to our future as a living and thriving institution.
Charles,
Hear, hear!
yes BUFA is on board. tentative meeting to hear the details Monday (11th), then 3 days of voting, so even if, on the very slim chance the general membership turns it down, nothing much would happen until after the exams are over because voting and counting will not be completed until at least Dec 14th so I cannot imagine a strike before exams are over, no matter what else happens. Now, hopefully both sides can begin to do a post mortem of the negotiations as Charles mentioned to reduce the chances of this ever happenign again.
Barry, when you first started this blog, it seemed interesting but perhaps irrelevant to me. As time dragged on, I came to read it regularly, and was disappointed when my refresh button did not give me more of your wise words. Thanks, Barry, you deserve an award for overwhelming compassion and empathy that puts to shame our heartless administration.
Thanks for keeping me posted throughout. This tentative agreement however, is it just a bandaid? How do we know that this won't happen again in another year or two? Does it bring the Brock faculty anyway to National standards? If there is another strike threat in the future lets how that the administration AND BUFA can learn from what has happened.
I also want to be one of the students to thank you for keeping this blog up-to-date. Regardless of the tension caused by the possibility of the strike, your words were much more refreshing to read than the other updates which were few and uninformative, as you have mentioned.
I hope you've managed to have some time to relax!
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