Date: Wed, 15 Nov 1995 14:31:24 -0800 From: Pasi Ahonen <pahonen@UVic.CA> To: H-VERKKO@sara.cc.utu.fi Subject: NEWS: Report on faculty strike at the University of Manitoba
Tassa hieman akateemisen politiikan tilannetta taalla Kanadassa. Jotta tiedatte varautua... **********************************************************
Date: Wed, 15 Nov 1995 11:08:49 -0600 Sender: H-NET List on Ethnic History <H-ETHNIC@MSU.EDU> From: "Josef J. Barton" <texbart@merle.acns.nwu.edu>
November 12, 1995
Report on faculty strike at the University of Manitoba.
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The University of Manitoba Faculty Association (UMFA), the certified bargaining agent for approximately 1100 full-time faculty members and professional librarians at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada began a legal strike on October 18. A settlement, reached with the help of a mediator who was only appointed late in the strike by a reluctant Provincial Government when it became clear the strike was not crumbling, was achieved at 4:00 AM on November 9. Classes resumed on November 10. The 23 day strike, was one of the longest in Canadian university history, was caused by an attack on academic freedom and tenure.
Essentially, the administration sought the ability to downsize the University through, among other measures, the unilateral right of management to discontinue (the euphemism for lay-off) any individual, tenured or not. The administration's position on individual discontinuance, only reluctantly abandoned late in the bargaining process, represented a clear threat to academic freedom since, in the disguise of redundancy and/or financial necessity, those who spoke out against the adminstration, assumed unpopular political positions, or criticized vested interests in the Province could have been let go. UMFA sought a more collegial downsizing process in which, among other procedures, faculty bodies would play an appropriate role in any decisions to downsize; checks, balances and accountability would be ensured; and, crucially, the individual would not be the level at which redundancies would be declared.
Salary levels were not a central issue. UMFA members early on indicated a willingness to take salary reductions in order to maintain the financial stability of the University. Reductions in salary will, in fact, take place in each of the three years of the new contract.
The strike, called after a secret ballot in which over 70% of the membership voted to do so, only took place after ten months of fruitless attempts "to bargain" with an intransigent administration. The university administration--and behind them the Provincial Government--did not expect the strike to last. They were wrong and, if anything, the resolve and solidarity of the members increased as the strike continued--a resolve maintained in the face an early Manitoba winter with considerable snow and deep, sub-zero temperatures. Support remained at the 70% level overall (with a good deal of variation among faculties) with some 60% of the membership actively engaged in various strike duties. Among the historians only 2 out of 27 crossed the picket line; among the Asianists in various disciplines (including historians) only one person, to my knowledge, failed to stand with his striking colleagues.
The ratification of the new contract has not and will not usher in the millenium. Substantial concessions were made. However, UMFA members do believe that, in the face of considerable odds and at considerable financial and other sacrifices, they fought and won a battle (the war is another matter) of importance to academics everywhere. In response to shrinking budgets university administrators and boards of regents everywhere seek more managerial rights: an unthinking and counterproductive response to what should be a shared problem mutually addressed. Universities, it is said, are businesses and should be managed accordingly. Academic freedom, it is said, is an outdated notion; tenure is an unnecessary obstacle to administrative flexibility. Those who struck at Manitoba are not opposed to change but they do not agree that academic freedom is not needed, tenure unnecessary or that universities should mindlessly mimic the world of corporate business. We do believe in collegiality--a value that has taken on palpable meaning for us after the experience of the strike--and in academic freedom.
We at Manitoba hope our experience may be useful to others. If you seek more information UMFA's web site should remain accessible for some days. The address is:
Ian J. Kerr History, University College University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Canada R3T 2M8 ikerr@cc.umanitoba.ca
---------------------------------------------------------------- Pasi Ahonen PhD Program, University of Victoria Department of History Research Fellow, Academy of Finland University of Victoria P.O. Box 3045 phone: +1 (604) 721-7283 Victoria, BC fax: +1 (604) 721-8772 V8W 3P4 email: pahonen@uvic.ca ---------------------------------------------------------------- **** "Se on tuo kulttuurj vaha monjmutkanj juttu." **** Severi Suhonen