366 Part-time Faculty at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada Walk Off the Job

The Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association (WLUFA) executives made the decision for contract academic staff (CAS) to go on strike.
The major issues still unresolved were a better seniority system and higher salary.

While the pay for part-time faculty currently stands at $6001, the WLUFA bargaining team was offered $6211, an offer they rejected given the salary at the University of Waterloo, which stands at $6708.

“We want to get much closer to Waterloo,” said WLUFA President Dr. Judy Bates. “It’s money and seniority. We desperately wanted to get a better seniority system so that the part-time faculty would have greater job security, and the university has completely rejected it,” she added.

Kevin Crowley, Associate Director of News and Editorial Services at Laurier, explained that the university will remain open and CAS members will be expected to continue working.

“The CAS is expected to show up for work and fulfill their duties,” said Crowley. “We are urging students to go to classes. It’s unclear whether all CAS people will walk the strike or whether some will come in and teach their classes, so we’re urging all students to go to their classes today and tomorrow,” he added.

The information for students provided on the WLU homepage explains the protocol to be followed until the strike is resolved.

Classes taught by full-time faculty will continue as usual, and if the class is taught by both full-time and part-time faculty members (such as in a tutorial), the full-time instructor’s portion of the course will continue.

The university intends to announce at a later date exactly which classes will be implicated by the strike.

Minutes after the striking decision came through, WLUFA Grievance Coordinator Joyce Lorimer expressed her disappointment with how the negotiations ended.

“I’m sorry that it’s come to this,” Lorimer said. “Nobody ever wishes to have to strike at a university. It affects students, it affects their years, but we have been driven out by the employer.”

The strike will affect 365 faculty members, and the picketing was planned at four locations – Bricker Street, Albert Street, University Avenue and King Street – with part-time faculty assigned to locations and times based on their regular teaching schedule.

Aside from the Laurier professors who will be picketing, representatives from universities including Memorial, York and Dalhousie are expected to arrive tomorrow in support. Just yesterday, the mood of WLUFA members was one of immense frustration, which foreshadowed the impending strike.

Herbert Pimlott, WLUFA Media Relations Officer and Associate Professor of Communication Studies, explained “at this stage it would appear that our members have no option open to them. The university administration appears willing to push our members into striking.”

Yet members of Laurier’s university administration, such as VP: Academic Sue Horton, spoke in a different tone.

“As it stands, we have very few items left in bargaining from what I understand,” Horton stated.
However, Pimlott noted that WLUFA members were growing skeptical of the university’s genuine efforts.

“We are still trying to get a negotiated settlement,” Pimlott said. “The university is being intransigent. We have an invisible president who is determined to balance the budget of the university on the backs of its most vulnerable and poorest-paid academic staff.”

Pimlott also explained that yesterday the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) advised WLUFA to move their strike office to 255 King Street N., unit 6, off university property.
Horton, however, explained yesterday, that like other members of university administration such as Max Blouw, current president, she refuses to speculate on what would happen to the rest of students’ term and how the dynamic of picket lines would affect the rest of the semester if a strike would happen.

“I think the most important thing is to bargain,” explains Horton.

In his message on the Laurier homepage, Dr. Blouw assures the WLU community “that the university is willing to return immediately to the bargaining table. We remain hopeful that a concerted effort by both parties will lead to an early settlement.”

However, WLUFA’s president seems less optimistic.

“I can’t imagine much will happen until after the weekend,” said Bates. “It’s a long weekend so I suspect that … we have to wait until we start negotiations again.”