Category Archives: Strikes

BBC: NI academics take strike action

University lecturers from two unions in Northern Ireland are staging a one-day strike in support of a 10% pay claim. About 1,600 members are expected to walk out of colleges and universities across the United Kingdom on Tuesday.

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The Chronicle: Professors at Ontario’s Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Go Out on Strike

About 150,000 students at Ontario’s 24 colleges of applied arts and technology are out of the classroom after their professors walked off their jobs early Tuesday, and some students are wondering whether the strike will prevent them from graduating on time.

Negotiations between the professors, whose last contract expired in August, and the colleges broke down late Monday night after days of intense talks conducted under a media blackout.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents some 9,100 full-time faculty members at the colleges, says the central issue is education quality. However, the colleges say they’ve offered a good deal, with salary increases that would make the professors the highest-paid college faculty members in the country and with no additional workload. …

Ontario’s college system is unique in Canada. It provides focused employment training and enrolls many university graduates who take supplementary college courses after earning their degree. The courses are developed in partnership with thousands of businesses and industries. In addition, every college has a partnership agreement with local universities. During the strike, most campuses are remaining open to students so they can use academic, health, and recreational facilities. Administrators are advising them to keep up their course work. Night classes that are taught by faculty members not represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union are continuing on many campuses, as are some classes taught by university professors, who are represented by a different union.

Toronto Star: Ontarioo college teachers on strike

About 9,100 full-time Ontario college teachers, counsellors and librarians will walk off the job today after talks broke down last night in a dispute over class size and workload. Classes have been cancelled for more than 150,000 students at a crucial time in the school year.

Brockville Recorder and Times: Colleges teachers walk out

For the first time in 17 years, faculty at St. Lawrence College and 23 other Ontario community colleges are on strike. The walkout leaves more than 150,000 college students across the province, including about 500 in Brockville, uncertain about completing their year.

Monsters and Critics: 9,100 Ontario college teachers strike

Failed contract negotiations led 9,100 Ontario college teachers and aides to walk off the job Tuesday, affecting 150,000 students in the province. The deal offered by the college association would have boosted salaries 12.6 percent over four years and capped class sizes.

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The Guardian Unlimited: MPs back academics as strike looms

More than 100 MPs have backed a campaign to increase academics’ pay as a national strike threatens to disrupt university life across the country.
Two unions representing university lecturers – Natfhe and the Association of University Teachers – called on employers to make a last minute pay offer to avoid tomorrow’s strike.

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OPSEU—Answers for students about the strike by college faculty

1. Why are college faculty on strike?

Students get the best education when faculty have time to give them the feedback they need. College faculty are bargaining to get more faculty, smaller class sizes, and more faculty time, attention, and feedback for each and every individual student. The number one issue in this round of contract talks between faculty and the colleges is education quality. A strike appears to be the only way to convince the colleges to make quality education their top priority.

2. Why can’t you reach a settlement without a strike?

Faculty and management have been negotiating for over a year. Management is still demanding concessions that would hurt education quality. We have been clear in telling management that we will not do anything that compromises quality. That’s why we are on strike.

3. What is the Ontario government’s position on this issue?

In May 2005, when he announced $6.2 billion in new funding for post-secondary education, Premier Dalton McGuinty made it clear that he was very concerned about education quality. He named “more faculty” and “more faculty time for students” as the first two ingredients in his recipe for improving education quality.

4. Isn’t this whole thing really just about wages?

No. The two sides are not very far apart on wages. Faculty and the colleges have reached a settlement without a work stoppage in every round of bargaining since 1989. What is different about this round is that a) we have a government in power that says it supports education quality and is willing to pay for improvements, and b) faculty have decided to take a stand before the situation deteriorates further.

5. What do the major student organizations or student councils think?

Many OPSEU locals have been in communication with their student governments. We are in contact with the provincial body, the College Student Alliance, to keep them informed. The CSA web site is at www.collegestrike.com .

6. Will I lose my school year?

There have been faculty work stoppages in 1984 and 1989. No student lost his or her school year in either case.

The provincial government will have to act quickly to prevent loss of the school year. Students should not withdraw from their programs or quit school.

7. How will students complete their school year?

Nobody knows for sure. Management at each college is responsible for deciding how operations will resume after a strike. They might extend the term, for example.

8. If there is a strike, do classes, field placements, and clinicals, etc., continue?

Without full-time teachers, any attempt to continue “classes as normal” would be futile. Each college will decide how it will proceed.

9. Can students talk to their teachers during a strike?

You can talk to your teacher any time – but not about classes or curriculum. Teachers are forbidden by law from working at the college during a strike, and the college is forbidden by law from paying teachers during a strike. This restriction also applies to electronic communication including but not limited to e-mail or chat rooms.

10. What can students do to help bring the strike to a conclusion?

Students should contact Premier Dalton McGuinty and tell him that they support a settlement that provides more faculty – and more faculty time – for each and every individual student. E-mail him at Dalton.McGuinty@premier.gov.on.ca .

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The Globe and Mail: College Teachers Go On Strike

Ontario community college teachers are on strike after attempts to reach an eleventh-hour settlement fell short.

Tens of thousands of Ontario community college students face major disruptions to their academic year as classes for 150,000 full-time pupils and thousands more part-time students will be affected.

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Newswire.ca: Ontario colleges urge OPSEU not to strike

Ontario colleges are urging the Ontario Public
Service Employees Union (OPSEU) to work with colleges to reach a negotiated
agreement and not take its faculty members on strike Tuesday.
“There is no reason for OPSEU to disrupt the students’ education at this
critical time in the school year,” said Dr. Rick Miner, chair of the colleges’
committee of presidents. “The colleges have provided a good offer to faculty
and it is important the union works with us to reach an agreement.”

The key elements of the colleges’ offer to OPSEU are:

– A 12.6-per-cent increase in salary over four years, which would move
the new maximum salary to $94,277 by April 2009
– An increase over four years for two-step coordinators (faculty who
have additional coordinating duties) that would move their new maximum
salary to $99,303
– No increase to workload.

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CTV: College students wait for news about strike

College students are waiting to hear if college instructors and management can reach a contract deal to avert a strike that would shut down classes across Ontario.

The Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union (OPSEU) and management representatives from 24 community colleges kept talking throughout the weekend in search of a deal.

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CTV: College strike looming for Ont. students

Classes could be cancelled for more than 150,000 Ontario college students if instructors go on strike at midnight Monday.

Management of the province’s 24 community colleges and the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union (OPSEU) have scheduled talks for the weekend in an effort to reach an agreement.

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Scotsman: University staff set to walk out in pay dispute

MORE than 1500 academics, lecturers and researchers are set to strike in the city.

The Association of University Teachers (AUT) and associated group the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education are threatening industrial action over pay.

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Fort Frances Times Online: Faculty strike looming

Faculty members from Ontario’s 24 Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology may be on strike as of this coming Tuesday (March 7), including those at the local campus of Confederation College.

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CUPE Local 2278 organizes UBC Teaching Assistants (TAs), Markers and Instructors at the English Language Institute.

Media Release
Tuesday, February 14, 2006

UBC Teaching Assistants call Strike Vote

On February 7 the Teaching Assistants Union at the University of British Columbia, called for a strike vote in response to the current impasse in bargaining. The 2000 members of CUPE 2278 have been without a contract since August 31, 2005.

“Our members are really fed up with the lack of protections in our collective agreement,” stated TA Union President, Kyla Dennedy. “Every time we get a pay increase, it is clawed back through a raise in tuition – teaching assistants are students too. It is shameful that UBC, which bills itself as a world-class institution, treats world-class student employees so poorly. TAs at the University of Toronto have tuition protection and make in excess of $7 an hour more than we do. How can UBC justify that?”

The University’s bargaining committee has not had a mandate to negotiate monetary issues and teaching assistants have become frustrated with the slow rate of bargaining. The University has refused to agree to even basic proposals like paid maternity leave.

UBC administration has also angered TAs by rejecting a provision in the contract that would prevent academic penalty against student TAs who offer complaints or file grievances.

“We don’t understand why they won’t agree to this,” said Sarah Roberts, Chair of the Bargaining Committee. “Academic harm protection is important to our members, it’s in the collective agreements of four other TA unions in the country and it makes perfect sense in this employment context.”

Unless an agreement is reached with UBC, a strike vote will be held on February 27 and 28 on the UBC Point Grey Campus.

For more information please contact:

Sarah Roberts, Chair of the Bargaining Committee, CUPE 2278: 604-224-2118

Sarah Pemberton, Vice President, CUPE 2278: 604-224-2118

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The Chronicle: Janitors Walk Out at U. of Miami, Drawing Support From Some Professors and Students

Janitors went on strike this week at the University of Miami. Some professors and students have expressed support for the workers, who are employed by an outside contractor.

Inside Higher Ed: Janitors’ Strike at U of Miami Escalates

Dozens of cleaning staffers hit the picket line, with their eyes set on unionizing

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The Miami Herald: UM janitors vote to strike

UM janitors vote to strike, but decline to say where and when workers will picket.

Janitors at the University of Miami authorized a strike Sunday against the Boston-based company that hires them to clean UM’s dorms, classrooms and grounds. The workers’ lack of healthcare and their wages — some of the lowest in any major U.S. university — have garnered unflattering national attention for the university. UM President Donna Shalala, following four and a half years of prompting from faculty and students, promised last week that the school would convene a committee to review the wages of about 900 contract workers — including about 400 janitors employed by Boston-based Unicco.

prnewswire.com: Janitors Vote Overwhelmingly to Authorize Strike at University of Miami over Unfair Labor Practices Committed by Janitorial Services Giant UNICCO

MIAMI, Feb. 26 /PRNewswire/ — Amid cheers, hundreds of janitors at the Episcopal Church on the University of Miami campus overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike over Unfair Labor Practices committed by UNICCO — the company hired by the University to clean the campus. Workers will open a strike office at the church on Tuesday at noon.

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The Ottawa Citizen: Algonquin faculty union authorizes strike

A majority of unionized faculty at Algonquin College have voted to strike if a new collective agreement is not reached by next month. Nearly 75 per cent of teachers, counsellors and librarians agreed to a walkout following a vote yesterday.

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Statesman Journal: Western Oregon U faculty vote OKs strike

Faculty members at Western Oregon University voted 98-19 Wednesday to authorize a strike if they are unable to reach a wage agreement with the university.

The News-Review: Western Oregon faculty members authorize strike

MONMOUTH, Ore. (AP) — Faculty members at Western Oregon University have voted to authorize a strike if they are unable to reach a wage agreement with the school.

Under state labor law, the earliest the union could strike is April 3. The vote Wednesday was 98-19.

Local 2278 of the American Federation of Teachers represents more than 140 teachers. Negotiations began eight months ago and included three sessions with a state mediator.

The union seeks a wage increase ranging from 8 percent to 14 percent after a two-year wage freeze and more money for faculty development.

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Belfast Telegraph: University staff vote for strike

ANGRY academics at Northern Ireland’s two main universities have voted overwhelmingly in favour of going on strike if the leading establishments do not take action to substantially improve pay levels.

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Marking the 100th day of a strike by New York University graduate students, the American Association of University Professors’ Committee on Graduate and Professional Students issued a statement urging NYU administrators and trustees ” to recognize due process requirements in their dealings with striking NYU graduate assistants, and to recognize their right to choose their own representative for collective bargaining.”

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Inside Higher Ed: No more pay checks

Some striking graduate students at New York University may have received their last NYU paychecks for at least two semesters.

“The Office of the Provost has determined that the following course is not meeting,” read a letter from from NYU to Amy LeClair, a striking sociology graduate student. The letter was referring to a statistics course that LeClair was slated to teach to undergraduates.

The letter goes on to tell LeClair that her tuition and health care will continue to be paid, but that her “stipend will be withdrawn for two semesters.”

The Chronicle: New York U. Withholds Stipends and Denies Teaching Assignments to Some Striking TA’s

A handful of graduate teaching assistants who are on strike at New York University received letters on Tuesday in which the administration told them they will not be getting teaching assignments or stipends for the next two semesters.

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