casualization

Bob Hanke
Departments of Communication Studies, Humanities, Political Science (LAPS)

It’s a dilemma for universities: how do they promote and enhance the research that brings prestige (and funding) to the institution, and at the same time provide a high-quality learning experience to undergraduates if all they can offer are sessional contracts? The answer to this dilemma is not TSAs: CUPE Unit 2 members should resist the “teaching only” trend found in Britain and the U.S. As the core tenure-track faculty shrinks, CUPE Unit 2 members should reject any offers that expand the periphery of an “ever-green” academic underclass of cheap teachers.

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

A major report released on March 23 sounds the alarm about declining quality of university education in Ontario. University faculty and librarians expressed concern over larger classes, fewer full-time faculty hires and deteriorating quality.

On behalf of the York Democratic Forum

Paul Baxter, Jody Berland, Malcolm Blincow, Ricardo Grinspun, Nick Lary, Marcia Macaulay, Arun Mukherjee, Ester Reiter, Nicola Short

In his address to Senate on 26 February –available at http://www.yorku.ca/mediar/archive/Release.php?Release=1623 –President Shoukri delivered his first speech after provincial back-to-work legislation led to a long-delayed return to class and a chaotic end-of-term schedule for students and faculty.