In an interview with the Dialog this morning, the National Executive Representative of the Canadian Federation of Students – Ontario (CFS-O), Kayla Weiler, confirmed the organization’s support for the faculty’s bargaining team in recent labour negotiations.
The CFS-O, which recently released a statement in favour of college faculty at the University of Manitoba during a similar negotiation process, also backed CAAT-A in the previous bargaining period in 2017. Though they haven’t released a public statement in support of college faculty at the time of this article’s publication, Weiler says one can be expected soon.
Weiler claims that concerns that have been raised by faculty such as workload policies and equity issues are in line with what students want. Support for stable and secure employment for faculty is just as important for them as it is for the well-being of students.
“We definitely recognize that students’ learning conditions are the faculties’ working conditions,” Weiler said. “So if faculty are given a bad deal or are forced to do more with less, that has impacts on students in the classroom.”
Weiler pointed out, for instance, that part-time faculty often juggle jobs at multiple institutions in order to make a living. This can impact their abilities as educators by splitting their support between several student bodies, and therefore hurt students in their courses.
When asked about the possibility of a strike, Weiler said that the ball is in the CEC’s court. The only way that it can be prevented is if the administration and the government choose to bargain in good faith, which would involve engaging with and listening to the demands of the faculty.
For example, Weiler remarked how many decisions made by the CEC during the pandemic such as how online learning would work did not involve faculty consultation.
“If there is a strike, the [CFS] will support faculty, and help students and faculty to come together in solidarity,” said Weiler. “But at the end of the day, their demands are being put forward so that they can make a better education system and a better college system for Ontario.”
According to Weiler, when progressive proposals have been brought up in the past, college employers have shelved them with the reasoning that it is simply not the right time. A George Brown faculty member made a similar point in an interview with the Dialog earlier this month.
The bargaining process is the perfect opportunity to re-energize these demands according to Weiler. Furthermore, she says the stress of the past two years over the post-pandemic world will in fact necessitate revisions to the past collective agreement.
The bargaining representatives have been in a media blackout since Monday, which means no public comments from either side of the negotiations are expected before the blackout is lifted later today.
