corporatization

Janice Newson

The purpose of teaching-only streams in full-time faculty bargaining units is to enable significant technological change. Although universities have been wired for almost two decades and university support functions are now provided mainly on-line, technological change has not had significant impact on the delivery of teaching. In order to more fully technologize teaching, administrations need teaching to be severed from research, not just de facto, but de jure, meaning, in the contractual provisions of collective agreements.

Admin3

An article from Gerald Caplan in the Globe and Mail: "Needless to say, being a billionaire buys you power and influence big time. Many accept this as a fact of life. Others find it disconcerting and even write books about it, like The Trouble With Billionaires by Linda McQuaig and Neil Brooks. Among their worries, as one chapter heading says, is that “Billionaires are bad for democracy.” Among their examples are the influence that Toronto magnate Peter Munk, head of Barrick Gold, has at the University of Toronto."

The YUFA Caucus for Democracy

The President of YUFA showed his contempt for the recognized election procedures, which were changed a whole 6 weeks and 4 days into the elections for Stewards’ Council reps to Executive. Executive members were suddenly allowed to vote and thus skewed, and probably stole, the results of the election.

Nicola Short, Hira Singh, Justin Podur, and Ray Rogers

This discussion paper comes out of a motion passed at YUFA's 3 March Special General Meeting. It should be noted that despite the striking of this subcommittee by a SGM of YUFA, it is clear that YUFA has only belatedly come to grips with the issue of casualization as it develops bargaining positions. We hope that our discussion paper plays a role in catalyzing both the executive and the membership in taking these issues seriously.

Richard Wellen

YUFA has been very ‘cooperative’ in the last decade of negotiations. In consequence, we have won very few improvements in pay and working conditions over those years. In the meantime, we have seen faculty unions at Carleton, Brock and Wilfred Laurier win teaching load reductions that have been refused by our own employer. Now is not the time to fall further behind and make our own members pay the price for the misguided policies of both the employer and the government.

The author prefers to remain anonymous

Appendix T, a primary negotiating position proposed by YUFA Executive, should be of grave concern to YUFA members. They need to be informed about it. Appendix T (formerly U) in effect suggests that all YUFA members (irrespective of salary) forego a 4% salary increase in the first year of the new contract. Appendix T can only be defeated if people come out and vote against it.

Tyler Shipley

There is growing acknowledgement... that there is a crisis in post-secondary education and a need for real change in the structure of university funding. This has manifested as a proliferation of student and worker unrest across the country and, indeed, the world; in 2008 and early 2009, there were dozens of university strikes and occupations across the world marked both by broader ideological challenges to the prevailing social order as well as increased repression from campus and state authorities... The recent strike of graduate students and part-time faculty at York University in Toronto over the winter of 2008-09 confronted these questions directly... this piece will sketch a brief history of the funding crisis in post-secondary education in the hopes of highlighting what I think are the crucial pressure-points in fighting back the trends toward inaccessible and watered-down educational experiences for students and low-reward, exploitative working conditions for teachers.

To read the complete article, go to:
http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/bullet215.html