Canadian Part-Timers Seek Union Rights
by Pauline Tama
An English teacher at Algonquin College is leading Ontario’s
17,000 part-time and temporary college workers in a fight to
win the same rights as their full-time unionized colleagues.
Roger Couvrette is expected to meet with Universities and
Colleges Minister Chris Bentley next week to demand the
Ontario government repeal a law that excludes part-time college teachers and support staff from collective bargaining.
Mr. Couvrette is president of the newly formed Organization
of Part-time and Sessional Employees of the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology, which is organizing the largest union
membership drive ever seen at the province’s 24 community
colleges.
The organization is challenging a law that, it says, has paved
the way for the massive use of cheap labor to subsidize Ontario
colleges. Since the law was enacted in the 1970s, during the
government of Conservative premier Bill Davis, the number of
part-time college teachers and staff has soared to where they
outnumber full-time unionized employees.
No government since the Davis era has been willing to repeal
the law. Mr. Couvrette said part-time employees are paid low
wages, receive no benefits and have no job security.
Ontario is the only province to deny part-time college workers union rights.
“It’s so blatantly unfair that we don’t think it’s tenable any
longer,” said Mr. Couvrette, a part-time teacher at Algonquin
for the past four years.
“I have no beef with the colleges ultimately. I have a beef
with the government.
”
The organization has the backing of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents 15,000 full-time teachers and support staff.
The union has filed a complaint highlighting the plight of their
part-time colleagues to the International Labor Organization, a
Geneva-based United Nations agency.
The organization has also attracted the support of NDP education critic Rosario Marchese, who has introduced a private
member’s bill to change the law. Mr. Marchese, who feels the
real problem is chronic under funding for education, said giving
part-time workers the right to bargain collectively would cost
the government more than the $6.2 billion over five years it has
earmarked for post-secondary education.
Mr. Bentley said he’s studying the issue, but refused to speculate on what would come out of his next meeting with Mr.
Couvrette. He also took aim at Mr. Marchese’s private member’s
bill, saying the NDP, under premier Bob Rae, took steps to repeal the law, but backed down.
The heart of the problem from the part-time employees’ point
of view, is that they are paid only for classroom time. As a result, their earnings are diluted by hours of unpaid work outside
the classroom preparing lessons, marking assignments and meeting students.
By contrast, full-time faculty members are paid for those duties and are eligible to file for overtime. They also receive benefits and seniority.
At Algonquin, which has about 900 unionized full-time faculty and support staff and between 1,000 and 1,200 non-unionized part-time employees, Mr. Couvrette said his typical $30
per hour salary can amount to as little as $10 hourly when preparation and student evaluation time are taken into account.
Provincewide, part-time salaries range from an hourly wage
of between $30 to $45.
What’s more, part-time teachers are deprived of office space
on campuses to meet students. As a result of such difficult work-
ing conditions, said Mr. Couvrette, the college system suffers
from a constant turnover of demoralized employees.
“It’s a rights issue but it’s also a quality of education issue,”
he said. “You can’t run colleges properly and deliver quality
education with a staff that is essentially disposable.”
