Strike Begins Tomorrow
The mediated effort to settle contract negotiations between VIU and the VIU Faculty Association broke down March 8. As a result VIUFA pickets will go up at 8am Thursday.
We have come to this position reluctantly (especially since we have been without a contract since April 2010), but with an abiding commitment to our position. We are well aware that money is tight in the public post-secondary sector in BC as the provincial government continues to reduce their share of the costs, forcing tuition fees higher. 1,500 students were caught up in waitlists this year.
In such an environment, we argue, it is even more important to prioritize student access to education since a better-educated community is a recognized stimulus for economic recovery. As both education and living costs become more expensive, it becomes even more vital that students be able to complete their degrees in a timely manner. Inadequate numbers of sections and cuts to courses and faculty all impede students’ access to their chosen fields of study.
VIU is officially designated in the 2008 founding legislation as a teaching university, and yet increasingly our present administration has diverted resources away from teaching and learning and into research projects with only limited application in the classroom, one of which has required an unprecedented commitment to a mortgage, the debt for which will burden future budgets for many years.
Furthermore, administration positions at VIU have risen in cost by 40% in the last 4 years. While faculty are receiving layoff notices, a number of senior administrative positions are currently posted.
VIUFA is asking that the administration to prioritize education. In tough economic times, the allocation of limited resources becomes especially sensitive. Budgetary priorities must be crystal-clear and with broad-based support throughout the university, student needs must be placed above all else.
In the sense that faculty and student goals coincide if we look at the long term: we think it is important to students to maintain programs and courses, and this is what we are trying to achieve. We may be wrong, but we do not feel the Administration has this to heart as much as faculty do. It is true that faculty are trying to serve some of their own needs, but this is about our rôle in delivering and deciding about education: it is not about money. We are sacrificing our short-term needs (e.g. for wages) in favour of the long term. And we are asking students to do the same. We hope the situation will be resolved in short order, and as faculty we have committed to doing our utmost to ensure that the semester can be completed after the return to work.
How, exactly, is a strike placing students above all else?
A strike of any forseeable length could greatly effect the plans of many students. Why are we — the future of our country — getting less and less priority?
I definitely support the cause of the strike, I do not want class numbers to go down, or sizes to go up, but having classes at all the the crucial thing.
After numerous students weren’t able to even get seats in classes this semester, how will reducing classes even further help our students, or the reputation of the University.
I don’t know how many notices have been issued: we are trying to prevent it happening. And there is no proposal on the table (from either side) for a wage increase.
How many layoff notices have been issued?
Is the union planning on negotiating a wage increase?
Judy Palm