THE PRECARIAT: SESSIONAL AND STUDENT ACADEMIC WORKERS

FEW-InfographicOn October 28 CUPE 3909 held a dinner for Sessional Academic Workers in appreciation of their contribution to the University of Manitoba and as part of Fair Employment Week.  Fair Employment Week is an initiative of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), and is a week designated to remember that all academic work must be fairly supported, validated, and remunerated.

At a time when 33% of professors at Canadian universities are on temporary or part time contracts, the plight of sessional, adjunct, and contract professors as well as graduate students who work as lecturers or instructors, remains a topic of discussion.  The president’s column for the CAUT Bulletin “Ivory towers have a dirty little secret”, which dealt specifically with this issue, appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press.

Noam Chomsky recently spoke to the Adjunct Faculty Association of the United Steelworkers in Pittsburgh where he remarked on the similarities between the corporate business model designed to reduce labor costs and increase labour servility and the corporatized university that is increasingly hiring precarious workers.  Read article here.

Early in October, Post-doctoral fellows at Dalhousie University voted to join the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), joining the growing number of precarious university workers seeking union representation to contend with their concerns about pay levels, benefits, and working conditions.

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING

GMMYou are invited to attend this term’s CUPE Local 3909 membership meeting.  The Executive will provide updates and we’ll announce the winners of the Unit 1 Bargaining Unit draw for 2 Future Shop $100 gift certificates.

The meeting starts at 1:30 in the Cross Common Room of St John’s College but feel free to drop by later.

Lunch will be provided.

 

Henry Giroux on the effects of “casino capitalism” on education

In an interview published by Truthout on October 13, 2014, Henry Giroux, well-known activist and writer, exposes the conceptual framework by which Neoliberal forces attempt to co opt the university for their own nefarious ends.  He points to the negative effect of increasing privatization of education on the quality of as well as access to education.  Giroux believes that university education is now less about constructing a future than about training students for the workplace and that because of this, many universities are shifting focus away from programs and departments that do not lend themselves to business interests.  While the article deals mostly with the situation in the US, Giroux’s commentary is easily applied to Canadian universities.  Read the interview here.

Dinner for Sessional Academic Workers

sessional dinner (3)On Tuesday, October 28, CUPE Local 3909 will be hosting a dinner for Sessional Academic Workers.  We will meet at 4:00 in the Cross Common Room at St. John’s College for refreshments and Dinner at 5:00.  Look for your invitation in the mail and please RSVP by Thursday, October 23.

SESSIONAL INSTRUCTORS AND CONTRACT FACULTY MAKE THE NEWS

As those of us in CUPE 3909 know, Universities have been increasingly relying upon Sessional Instructors to teach a higher percentage of their undergraduate courses over the last decades.  Years of decreased government funding and neo-liberal style management of University finances on the part of administration have meant that funding has not developed to hire new tenure-track faculty or replace those who retire.  At the same time, enrolment has continued to rise.  Picking up the slack has been a low-paid casual labour pool made up of the many Masters and PhD graduates who cannot find full time academic employment.  This phenomenon has been receiving greater media attention in recent years, and this fall once again a number of articles and news reports have appeared on the subject.  CBC Radio One, in fact, aired a one-hour documentary on the subject entitled, “class struggles” on Sunday Edition with Michael Enright on September 7.  (Listen to the documentary here.)  This was accompanied by a news report stating that more than half of undergraduate courses are now being taught by contract academic staff and discussing the poor working conditions under which these staff labour.

University Affairs has also once again turned their attention to the topic.  In a piece called “Academy of Broken Dreams“, Tim Pettipiece has detailed his own experience with teaching, research and publication resulting only in frustration as the few tenure-track jobs that do exist go to other candidates.

In his response, University Administrator John Osborne agrees that a “lost generation” has been created in the academic world due to a lack of funding which prevents universities from hiring.  In a later article, he also agrees with Pettipiece’s controversial assertion that hiring committees for the few jobs that do exist favour British or American scholars over those trained in Canada.

All of these are worthwhile reads.  However, while it is important for sessionals who are “frustrated academics” to understand that their current position is a result of systemic factors and not personal failing, this insight only goes so far toward providing real help.  Bemoaning the lack of tenure track positions does not call them into being and the reality is that it is unlikely that our current governments will suddenly provide the funding necessary to hire new tenure-track faculty.  Nor have Universities, including U of M, paid anything but lip service to the notion of converting sessional positions into more secure full time positions as professors or instructors.  Sessional Instructors need to continue to fight for recognition, respect and better working conditions within a situation that is unlikely to change any time soon.

Drinks, food, meet, greet

2014-09-30 u1 meet and greet (1)

We will be holding an event for Student Academic Workers on Tuesday, September 30.  Come get together for food and drinks with your fellow grader/markers, TAs, lab demonstrators, seminar leaders, tutors, and lecturer/instructors.

We will also announce the winners of the two $100 gift certificates for those of you who helped us out with the Unit 1 Bargaining Survey.

National Post-Secondary Education Task Force – LOCAL REPORT

Brianne Goerzen

During the first week of April 2014 CUPE National called an All Committees meeting. The meeting allowed for the various CUPE National committees to meet and discuss the general direction of individual committees. The meeting also gave committee and task force members the opportunity to meet members outside their respective groups and partake in larger group sessions. There were a number of guest speakers that spoke on a variety of topics including how to move the labour movement forward and organizing for the next generation.

The Post-Secondary Education Task Force is composed of brothers and sisters from across Canada, including representatives from British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick. Over the duration of the meeting, members provided an update regarding their respective provinces. The group also discussed current plans in action and planning for the months ahead. The Post-Secondary Task Force main campaign is advocating for the creation of a National Post-Secondary Act. A National Post-Secondary Act would legislate high quality, mandatory funding levels, reduce tuition fees, eliminate deferred maintenance at Colleges and Universities and ultimately ensure the public good of post-secondary institutions.

Keep an eye out for future materials that can be used across campuses to promote the National Post-Secondary Act and ensuring public education for the public good.

The Specter of Authoritarianism and the Future of the Left: An Interview With Henry A. Giroux

Henry Giroux, author of “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” and one of the founding theorists of critical pedagogy, was interviewed recently by CJ Polychroniou of “Truthout”.  As part of the discussion, Giroux spoke about the impact felt at universities that are increasingly turning toward corporate management models and marketization.

“The increasing corporatization of higher education poses a dire threat to its role as a democratic public sphere and a vital site where students can learn to address important social issues, be self-reflective and learn the knowledge, values and ideas central to deepening and expanding the capacities they need to be engaged and critical agents. Under neoliberalism, higher education is dangerous because it has the potential to educate young people to think critically and learn how to hold power accountable. Unfortunately, with the rise of the corporate university which now defines all aspects of governing, curriculum, financial matters and a host of other academic policies, education is now largely about training, creating an elite class of managers, and eviscerating those forms of knowledge that conjure up what might be considered dangerous forms of moral witnessing and collective political action.

Any subject or mode of knowledge that does not serve the instrumental needs of capital is rendered disposable, suggesting that the only value of any worth is exchange value; the only pedagogical practice of any value must be reduced to a commercial transaction. The corporate university is the ultimate expression of a disimagination machine, which employs a top-down authoritarian style of power, mimics a business culture, infantilizes students by treating them as consumers, and depoliticizes faculty by removing them from all forms of governance. As William Boardman argues, the destruction of higher education “by the forces of commerce and authoritarian politics is a sad illustration of how the democratic ethos (educate everyone to their capacity, for free) has given way to exploitation (turning students into a profit center that has the serendipitous benefit of feeding inequality).”

Particularly disturbing here is the corporate university’s attempt to wage a war on higher education by reducing the overwhelming number of faculty to part-time help with no power, benefits or security. Many part-time and non-tenured faculty in the United States qualify for food stamps and are living slightly above the poverty level. The slow death of the university as a center of critique, a fundamental source of civic education and a crucial public good make available the fundamental framework for the emergence of a formative culture that produces and legitimates an authoritarian society. The corporatization of higher education constitutes a serious strike against democracy and gives rise to the kind of thoughtlessness that Hanna Arendt believed was at the core of totalitarianism.

Read the full interview here.

Henry Giroux is currently the Director of the McMaster Centre for Research in the Public Interest and Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ryerson University.

Enough with un(der)employment!: A forum on youth employment in Manitoba

 

YouthunderemploymentJoin CUPE 3909 and our allies as we discuss the impact of youth unemployment and underemployment on ourselves, our members, and our communities, and help develop a collaborative solution to combat these issues affecting young Manitobans.

Space is limited, so please contact  the organizers ASAP at youthforummanitoba@gmail.com for more information on how to register.

WHEN: MARCH 14, 2014
WHERE: 880 Portage Avene, UFCW Training Centre
TIME: 9:00am-5:00pm
COST: FREE!

Noam Chomsky “On Academic Labour”

Recently, Noam Chomsky deliberated on the problems faced and created by universities.  He spoke about various aspects, including the increase in non tenure track hiring and the perceived need for a “flexible” labour force.  As Sessionals who find themselves in precarious employment situations and Student Academic Workers who expect to graduate into the world of academia, members of CUPE 3909 may find this article interesting.

Read his article here.