Faculty Contingency Plans

Today, I have to start moving my personal effects, my laptop and any books I will need out of my office.

BUFA is already preparing to move its offices and communications centre off-campus in anticipation of the strike.

Strike Vote

Last Wednesday, October 25, BUFA Executive held a strike vote at the Four Points Sheraton. 69% of the eligible membership turned out to vote.

The vote was 88% in favour of a strike.

The strike date has been set for December 5.

Believe me, this was a very difficult decision for faculty to make. I can't count the times colleagues have explained publicly that hurting or inconveniencing the students is the last thing they intend. But even pretty tame faculty members like me have been radicalized by the administration's unwillingness to come to an agreement -- and they have had since April!

Students keep asking me what the plans are for exams, for grades, etc. and I must unfortunately tell them that I simply do not know. It is really painful not to be able to calm students' anxiety about this, but the fact is that faculty have no idea what protocol the administration has in mind for these matters.

Contingency plans for exams and grades will have to be announced by the administration

Issues Students Should Know About

After two days of talks with the mediator, Mr. Kevin Burkett, it became clear to the BUFA negotiating team that we were not going to reach an agreement with the administration.

The mediator will file a No-Board Report and 17 days after that filing, BUFA and Brock faculty will be in a legal strike position.

This is the last thing that I want to happen! I want to teach my students, to see them succeed. I want my students to get the full value of their tuition. But how much more can Brock faculty take from administration?

Here are some facts that students ought to know:

1. Every other Collective Agreement has been reached by negotiation in the 42 years of Brock's history.
2. Brock faculty have been without a contract since July 1.
3. There have been more than 38 all day meetings, beginning in April. We are still not even close to an agreement.
4. At a meeting as late as October 12, the administrative bargaining team came to the meeting without having done the required preparation to continue talks. Students know what happens when they come to class unprepared -- why is it different for a bargaining team?
5. Brock administration is demanding more Instructional Limited Term Appointments (contract staff who teach only) teach more courses at Brock. That would be cheaper for the administration in the long term, but think about the vulnerability of contract instructors who can be terminated at the end of a contract if the university found someone cheaper.
6. Brock administration is demanding that the Vice-President, Academic chair any future promotion and tenure committees. This would give the VPA a vote to break a tie. It would also put the VPA in the position of being able to influence committee members simply by virtue of the fact that the chair is the Vice-President of the University! Students must understand that promotion and tenure is a peer-review process, and administrators are no longer peers of academic faculty. Rather, they are necessarily in a category apart from faculty. When is the last time you heard a senior administrator worrying that his teaching evaluations might bring down his merit? When is the last time a senior administrator expressed concern that his service record might affect his salary? that his research record could affect his career?
7. While Brock administration makes faculty a financial offer that would keep us as the lowest paid university in Ontario, that same administration has demanded changes in promotion and tenure criteria that are the toughest anywhere in the country. This would mean that we are not good enough to be paid adequately, and furthermore we are so bad we must be kept from acquiring promotions and tenure. So how can Brock become this great comprehensive university that attracts the best of the best with this track record?
8. BUFA, in its desire to avoid a strike and reach an agreement, suggested that if the administration could come to an agreement on the non-monetary issues on the table, BUFA would consider submitting all monetary issues to binding arbitration. The university refused this offer.

Role reversal

What a weird afternoon I had today. Earlier in the day, I had been invited to join the BUFA Strike Action Committee, the committee that plans strike strategy and job action. My first call to the lines was a mere two hours later, when BUFA staged an information picket in front of Senate.
I have been wearing my "I Support BUFA" button for a week already, engaging my students in dialogue about the issues in this dispute. This afternoon, I strapped on my armband and handed out information sheets to surprised students as they walked to their bus or to their next class. Usually, this hallway is full of students standing in front of their display tables, passing out information.

It was heartening to see how many students actually wanted to hear about the issues at stake here, the issues that affect their educational future at Brock.

As Senators and administrators filed into the Senate Chambers, they were offered pamphlets as well. President Lightstone made a point of asking for an information sheet, but one of the Deans kept his head down, increased his speed and with a scowl, waved off the proffered pamphlet.

The whole event lasted less than an hour.

It is a tough decision for me to make, to support a strike that will remove me from the classroom. It is my mantra that there is no other place that I would rather be than in a classroom discussing ideas with my students.

I feel such a personal commitment to my students, as past students can attest and current students can see and feel. But the long term benefit of permanent, tenured faculty in the primary teaching positions at Brock is worth this action, in my estimation.

I have agonized over this, and this is one of the reasons I am blogging -- so the people to whom I feel such a commitment can gain some insight into why I feel so strongly about supporting this action.

BWKJ