YUFA Executive Stalls on Donation to Labour-Friendly Centre
Norene Pupo
The large grant of the Centre for Research on Work and Society recently ended. I appealed to the Dean of Arts (CRWS reports to ARTS, unlike most other centres which report directly to VPRI) for funds to sustain the Centre until another grant could be secured. He responded that Arts could no longer provide any funds and that it may be time to close the doors of the Centre permanently. CRWS is well regarded in the broader labour community and has a sustained partnership with labour in its governance and all activities. It is the only centre of its kind in Canada that has established a long-term working relationship with the labour movement. Given our financial situation I appealed to our labour partners as well as to campus unions to provide bridge funding for the Centre, until we could once again secure some research money. Labour partners in the broader community responded immediately, as did the other campus unions, EXCEPT FOR YUFA. Appeals were made through the all-unions campus coalition, but YUFA (Arthur) only gave lip service to support for CRWS, never any funds. Even last year when I asked YUFA for a $500 donation to support a conference, Labour Rights as Human Rights, (a conference following the BC Supreme Court Decision, and involving international guests from the ILO) YUFA refused, despite again wide labour support, including support from the other campus unions. Recently I have been appealing directly to Livy, because clearly I got nowhere with Arthur. A few weeks ago when I was witnessing, Livy brought the issue of a donation for CRWS up and asked me to speak to our situation. I did so and when I said that I had appealed repeatedly to YUFA for a donation, Arthur was clearly embarrassed and said YUFA would look into it. Jay Rahn put forward an objection, saying that YUFA doesn't support individual faculty members' research. I clarified that the money would in no way be used for anyone's research, but would help to sustain the Centre. I was asked to provide our budget and budget projections. I sent in all the materials I was asked for. But two or three Exec meetings later, I still have no commitment from YUFA and I've been asked for even more budgetary information, including projections that even the Faculty of Arts told us to put on hold due to the amalgamation. YUSA to date has donated a significant amount to the Centre both during our current crisis and over the years. A $10,000 donation (OTO, unless YUFA wants to become a sustaining partner) from YUFA is all we are asking for in support of our labour-friendly initiatives and to remain in solidarity with our partners.
Ed. note According to YUFA Democracy Caucus witnesses at the last two Executive meetings, YUFA Executive continues to stall on approval of a grant to CRWS.
The website of the Centre is http://www.yorku.ca/crws/
The website of its journal Just Labout is http://www.justlabour.yorku.ca
According to the Centre's website:
An Organized Research Unit (ORU) of York University, the Centre for Research on Work and Society (CRWS) addresses the many issues facing labour that arise from the current volatile political transformation of the Canadian world of work. In the present climate of rapid restructuring taking place within work and civil society, the CRWS believes that a culture of union - university - community research partnerships needs to be fostered. With this in mind, the CRWS maintains a network of active researchers, drawn from the Canadian labour movement, academia, community groups, and the international labour research community.
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