Post-Strike Comments

I have heard that one of the college presidents has resigned ... good move in my view. I too would resign as CEO if I had simply mouthed the ACAATO policies which were guaranteed to alienate the very people who had made the reputation of the colleges over the last 39 years. Presidents/CEOs should provide true leadership in trying times ... and to be fair, some of them did. Mohawk and Centennial come to mind immediately. Perhaps those who mouthed the line would consider resignation as a strategy... LOL I think not. Not at the salaries they are paid.

I am of two minds re the fact that our college's fearless "leaders" have pulled their worst communications during the strike off the college websites. First thought I had was "it's about time" but on second thought -- in a way it would be nice to have them stay there, as a reminder to those who, over the next few months, may prefer to forget. If those vicious communications are no longer on line, (based on the memorandum of agreement which says that whatever happened prior to or during the strike there will be no reprisals .. which fortuately covers me too, although I am not terribly worried about this ... I can retire any time at this point, although I certainly would prefer to stay on at least until the next strike because I do like teaching!) I worry that it will eventually be denied and then fade into history. Fortunately I saved some of them - I shall not be misled into thinking that these communications were a figment of my imagination, or at least much softer than I imagined.

I was originally worried re our students' response to management's comments, but given my discussions with students yesterday and today, the majority really had not even been bothered to read them so .... it was only the faculty that "got the message" that was being conveyed. And we sure got it! No respect at all for our work was clear. Thanks, folks. Gotcha loud and clear!

Re students, I was the first instructor to see one of my post-strike classes. Opening line from me was ..."So -- the adminstration said they had asked you to keep up your studies while we were on strike ... do any of you have anything based on keeping up with your studies that you want to hand in at this point?" You should have seen their eyes ... deer in the headlights! Then when I subsequently said that I was equally paralysed during the strike, so we would work together to make the best of it .. huge relief was apparent! And I really do understand ... how do you continue (WebCT or no, pre-prepared course information or no, clear course outline or no, posted powerpoints or no, lesson plans online or no) without faculty (including cousellors and librarians!) to guide you, direct you, cajole you, encourage you in terms of how and what to study... and to tutor, to advise and provide support for those who need it. Study independently ... how can we expect the majority of our students to be so self-disciplined as to actually have followed the course of studies without guidance under the circumstances? And particluarly given that the "semester completion strategy" was non-existent. Not that developing one without faculty was a viable alternative anyway ... that was simply a "threat" and was in my view one of the greatest PR errors of the entire Council campaign. Nobody bought that one, but a number of College Presidents mouthed it. And great credit to those few who did not!!! TY TY. If you work for one of them, send them flowers (and Timbits)!!!!

Our first day back was interesting. At one end were a very few fellow faculty who accused (not in so many words, but certainly in implication) that the 80% who had supported the strike did not care about their students --- hey, educate yourself re the issues, folks, before your make such bizarre statements !(I could rant forever on how those who voted for a strike cared MORE about the students, but if you think differently, then you are beyond rational argument, and I cannot waste time on you) and at the other end were those who refused to even attend the meetings.

I am tired of administrators here saying "welcome back" to me ... HEY ... I never left! I have been there every single day for nothing but strike pay ... I just have not been not inside. I am the one who lost pay for quality. I have never for one minute forgotten about my students. That is why I have been on strike.

The stress that was on all during the strike was apparent in these meetings. With "immediate" management it was less ... after all they did not craft the communications of the "un-strategy", and most of us were aware of that.

My concern right now is primarily for my students, but (bottom line) given that this is going to be a 4 year deal, is that none of them will lose more than 2 weeks over 14 weeks X 2-3 years, so in the long term the students will not have missed a huge amount of content/skills (now that we are back). But what really annoys me is that nobody seems to be making a connection here re quality. Let's talk "quality" for a minute. When I entered this system, after approx. 15 years of experience in the communications industry, we had an 17-18 week long semester, with 4 hours per week per course, to teach (pardon my language, this is now a dirty word I think we now create a learning environment) -- with class sizes of roughly 25-30. Now, to achieve do the same outcomes, I get 14 weeks and 3 hours per week and have class sizes set at 40+. (And can easily go 20% higher.) So what do you think has happened to the outcomes since then? And to the content? Draw your own conclusions.

Why This Site Will Stay Up

Number of days site was up - 17

Total Page Views- 1,596

Average Page Views Per Day - 165

Average Page Views Per Visit - 2.3

This Week - 1,156

We have developed community, and cause -- and even old guys have good memories, and if not this blog can remind us. John's entry of March 23 says it better than I can. We are back at work on Monday, and glad for that, but that does not mean we have forgotten. Don't even think of asking me to go back to "business as usual".

It's Not Over

We are back "inside", but it is not and will not be the same.

When I started in the college system many years ago (even before the workload formula ... which by the way has me working 44 hours per week, not an "average" of 14) ... I had an 18 week semester with 4 hours per class, approximately 25 students per class, and tests were in a testing centre so I did not lose class time for testing. I now have a 14 week semester, with 3 hours per class, approximately 40-45 students per class, and no testing centre for tests (except for makeup tests, for which students generally are charged unless they produce a death certificate or equivalent). Since the workload formula came in, I have NEVER had any increase in preparation factors or complementary function factors, despite technology introductions and despite the increase in numbers of students and reductions in full time faculty, meaning that students who have part-timers come to the full-timers for help. And evaluation factors have come down because management has dictated that we will reduce them by moving to multiple-choice rather than written test items regardless of whether that is appropriate for evaluating attainment of outcomes.

In my current online environment I probably have to spend at least double (don't ask me to document it because even if I did the college would claim I am exaggerating!) the time I have since 1998 for contact and feedback to students via WebCT or email. I used to have access to support staff to type tests and etc ... no more, it is now up to me to format, type and put it all up on WebCT. How much time did I have on my SWF to learn PowerPoint, FTP, FrontPage, Windows XP? When the IT systems fail me I spend literally hours discussing on phone or via email with IT just trying to get problems solved ... FOR THE STUDENTS. Trust me, I personally could live without figuring out why FrontPage crashes in our labs but not on my laptop! I'm not whining about this ... I would just like RECOGNITION that this type of activity is occurring constantly and is eating up all sorts of time and effort.

I think we also need better decision-making at the college level relative to the way the $$ that we have are spent (granted to begin with that the system is underfunded and that we do not have appropriate $$) and why the issue of quality is not clearly audited. I love the new technology and we do need to invest in that ... but why has our college never seriously considered outsourcing aspects of the technological infrastructure, (or if they have, why have they never shared the business case for retaining it in-house with either faculty or, for that matter, Deans and Associate Deans, as far as I know.) I wonder how seriously colleges have looked at costs (other than teachers' salaries), and ways to address those.

We do need goverment intervention ... and not just via "arbitration" which is always some sort of compromise. Where are the auditors? They should look at not only the balance sheets but also at WHERE the $$$ are going, and whether the moneys are being spent in ways that truly provide better quality education to students.

I am sure faculty will be working on developing strategies in the next several months to politicise these issues, because my faculty have been radicalized by the communications in this strike and the unconsionable rhetoric that claimed we were on strike for big salary increases, so I think many are now prepared to take whatever (legal and political and other) action is necessary to bring pressure to bear on the government to bring accountability to the system. How long will it last? Who knows. But certainly faculty are more united now than they have been in many years.

Tell me why our college had approximately a $6 million surplus last year and is crying poor? Tell me why the college system overall had a $50 million surplus and they are crying poor? Tell me why specialized buildings at our campuses are sitting close to empty, while other students in our "core" programs are squashed into classrooms and labs where there are not enough seats for them, nor room on the tables for them for them to take notes? Tell me why I cannot squeeze down the aisles in a lab to help students because a lab originally designed for 30 computers has had an aisle of computer stations stuffed in to"accommodate" technically, 45 students, while at the same time my college invests millions in a "research" department? Tell me why I should care about applied degrees when our core programs (diplomas that confer skills) are being treated as cash cows and millions are being spent on developing esoteric programs which do not attract students? I would really like to know the answers to these questions. Bill Davis, where are you? You had a vision for colleges. It is still valid. But many, if not most, college administrators have lost it. They want to become sub-whatever universities.

The only answer that springs to mind is that some people want items to pad their resumes and move on to other jobs at universities.

Arbitration

http://www110.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/sfmc_fmcs/lcctr_tclcr/page52.html Here's a link to a Government of Canada explanation of FOS vs binding arbitration, and why, as the article concludes, a "consensual arbitration is probably the best alternative, particularly if it includes an ability to mediate as well as arbitrate". Of course to 99 out of 100 people the importance of the issue may not be clear. Certainly the union called for binding arbitration. Looks like the longer the colleges refuse it the less likely the students will get back to the classroom, since both sides must agree to the form of arbitration and FOS cannot be imposed.

From our sister campus

Hi:

How is the picketing going? I have picketted with the Oakville group on the night shift. I've met so many wonderful teachers from the arts, media, jounalism, counselling, accounting etc. and they are great people. However, picketting night shift - Con-Ed - is very stressful as the public is very uninformed and aggresssive. The first week of picketting , I was almost run over three times. My husband and girls were so upset. After the accident at Centennial College , I decided not to put myself in danger on the front line. It's been so interesting watching various faculty put their lives in the jeopardy of unknown motorists who may be under the influence or who strongly are anti-union.

I understand that tomorrow , the Davis Campus party is from 10:30-1:00pm. I miss you all. I want to come and picket with everyone at Davis. Hope to see you at 11:30am.

Diary of a Picket Captain #4

Monday: Spring arrives this afternoon, though you would not know it by the temperature, but it is sunny! The College was very quiet. A coke truck refused to cross our picket line – yeah! We had lots of food – spicy chilli, regular chilli and soup.
Tuesday: Again it is cold but sunny; the sun feels so good on your face. It is just too bad we have to wear all these clothes or we could have an air bath! For the first time, I saw some Deans at Davis. Maybe, they are meeting to decide who is going to teach which course! CC, using a pedometer, recorded 10 000 steps on the picket line. With an approximate 2 ft. step, he walked 20 000 ft. which translates into 3.79 miles or 6.1 km . No wonder we are tired at the end of our shift! We have now added mulled hot apple cider to our choice of drinks – it is very healthy for us (prevents colds) and tastes good.
Wednesday: It is cloudy and cool with snow on the ground greeting us this morning – where is spring? I regret that, as picket captain, I accepted refreshments from our President. Some faculty were so incensed, with this last-minute gesture from the President, that they threw out his so-called offering of food.
Thursday: It is cloudy but warmer. More students seem to be entering the college – maybe they realise that the strike may be over soon. JJ and JT, from support staff, arrived in style with flags flying, support signs on the truck and union music blaring. They brought pizza and pop. It was at the end of our shift so everyone was tired and hungry and they devoured the food! Thank you to the Union support staff.
Friday: It is warmer! Today we are having a get-together at 10:30 for all 3 shifts.

Some thoughts:

I do not understand why we have so many administrators in the College to manage our faculty. After experiencing the picket line with fellow teachers, I do not think the faculty needs the guidance that the College would have us believe with all their middle managers. If there is a job to be done, someone just jumps in without any prompting and it is done. Faculty are great self-starters and self-regulators.

I have decided that I have honed my skill of watching people’s eyes/faces during my time on the picket line. In the classroom, as a teacher, you try to get clues from the students’ faces as to their understanding or lack of understanding of the topic being discussed. Mind you with 48 some students in a class, you run out of time if you try to use this skill to any great extent. On the picket line, this skill is used to decide if this driver, of this big heavy car or truck, is going to stop or if they will try to run over you! It is very important to use for your own safety on the line, whereas in the classroom, it is a necessary skill as the students’ success may depend on your ability to interpret their reception to the material they are learning in the class.

Management 101

Yet again a contribution from another picketer ....

"Management 101: Shoot Not the Messenger

Any student of Management 101 knows that a growing volume of employee complaints and grievances, followed by a 78% strike vote, are SYMPTOMS of real problems that need to be addressed by management.

In such circumstances, it takes TOTALLY INEPT management to conclude that the cause of the problems is THE UNION, and that the solution is to attack and discredit the union – i.e., their own employees.

College management has complained forever that the colleges are so underfunded that they cannot do their job well. But when their faculty strike over that very issue, college management asserts that that government funding is in fact generous, and that the problem is THE UNION. These managers should RESIGN, because their credibility and ability to lead is in the toilet.

Anyone who follows events at Sheridan understands that top management refuses to hear truthful but unwelcome news, and can provide a long list of former employees who have fallen victim to this disgraceful hubris. It is time for a change – let’s get some managers who actually passed Management 101!"

Union Busting From The Picket Line

Again .. a post from a picketing colleague ...

"Union-Busting 101

In all my years in the college system, I have never seen such a vicious union-busting campaign! As these so-called “negotiations” unfolded, it became increasingly clear that management was utilizing a modified version of a union-busting tactic that was used in the United States 50 years ago.

This tactic is far too sophisticated to have been dreamed up by college managers; it has been “inspired” by industrial relations consultants and/or labour lawyers (thanks Maureen) who only understand confrontation and only create hostility, and who will NOT have to live with the day-to-day aftermath of it, which will be dreadful.

Make no mistake about this tactic -- its goal is to discredit the Union so totally that in the next round of negotiations, management will be empowered to increase our workloads substantially because we will be afraid to resist. And don’t be misled by hot chocolate -- Sheridan’s president is a most enthusiastic participant in this vicious attack on us. Read his March 23 e-mail that blames the Union for wanting arbitration as it is practiced 99.9% of the time.

The management team’s weak spot is that it is THEY who are insisting on a most unusual arbitration process that at this late stage of bargaining is loaded in management’s favour. We CAN thwart these people, by holding out a little longer, and forcing the government to take action to end the strike.

HANG IN THERE – we are close to our goal!"

Be Prepared

Another comment from a picketer today ...

"This new hyper-aggressive anti-unionism of college management makes it essential that faculty be prepared for future conflicts. Each local can create its own strike pay “top-up” fund by adding a modest amount to their local union dues. The fact that your union dues are tax-deductible, but strike pay is not taxable income makes it possible to accumulate a decent nest egg at modest cost. In just three years, a dues deduction of $15 per paycheque ($9 cost to you because it’s tax-deductible) would accumulate nearly $1,200 of strike pay at a cost to you of about $700. We should all thank Sheridan’s local for doing a fine job in this regard – now we need all the locals in the system to do the same in the future. If college management knows we are financially well-prepared, they will be less ready to force another strike next time! The colleges’ lead negotiator has said that “It’s just a game”, so we need be ready to play their game right back at them."

He Said, She Said

Ok so let me speculate about why, after almost 3 weeks' worth of a strike, the colleges want final offer selection.

First: re final offer selection (FOS in future), there is no question in my mind that the goal of FOS is to resolve a situation BEFORE a strike, not once one has started. See section 22 of the act. If both sides really want a settlement before a strike, and if both sides agree (a key component of FOS -- see the act as linked above) to FOS at that time, then that is a challenge to both sides to come to the table with best positions.

But to propose that FOS is a good resolution AFTER a strike has begun is ludicrous. Labour relations experts will no doubt agree that FOS creates "winners" and "losers" ... which is why I am confident its major value lies in using it prior to a strike, before there are major winners and losers established. Nobody wants to be a loser: so both sides make a reasonable offer ... and both sides then (assuming they made a reasonable submission) have a good possibility of their positions being accepted. However, with the colleges now, after faculty has eaten almost 3 weeks of a strike, suggesting that this is a way to an appropriate "solution" is ludicrous. It seems clear to me (from my albeit prejudiced position as one of those who has sacrificed perosnal $$$, to say nothing of health, as I seem to be headed toward pneumonia at present, for the "quality" issue) that this appeal for FOS at this time is simply another way for HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY to try to stick it to faculty. En-joy, Joy .... bottom line is that our faculty at our college will not forget any of this, including the "it's only a game" quote. And make no mistake ... we know that ACAATO has orchestrated this from the beginning. And those administrators at the colleges who bought into it and supported will not be forgotten, no matter how much hot chocolate or how many cookies are brought to the line in week 3.

And why are the colleges now afraid of binding arbitration? Are they afraid that an arbitrator might look at BOTH positions and make a rational decision?

I really hope that after all is said and done here, that the government will get rid of the CCBA, which is a huge part of the problem, and replace it with more standard legislation. The CCBA has been a problem for many years (as in since it was conceived). If our people (on both sides) had developed a mature bargaining relationship over the last 38 years, we might have overcome the idiosyncrasies of the legislation, but given that there is no indication of a mature bargaining relationship we need to lobby for the government to do away with the CCBA and put into place more "normal" bargaining legislation. One of the amazing things is how very few people have any idea of the unique characteristics of the CCBA, and how very different this act is from all other Ontario labour relations legislation, and how difficult this makes it for both sides.

Hello MPPs ... is anyone listening? I may have to forward this to mine!

A Brother's View

Again, someone else's views ...

"There is a lot of negative bias out there regarding teachers, lawyers, politicians and even the news media.
This makes it possible to make a blatantly incorrect statement and get it repeated.
Sometimes these things resonate so well they must be proven wrong again and again.
I will not draw any blanket conclusions about journalists not doing their research after reading Mr. Annan's cynical article about the motives of community college teachers on The Advocate's website (yorkregion.com)
The central pillar of Mr. Annan's piece relies on a quote from the president of Seneca College:
"$95,000 isn't bad for 14 hours a week, 35 weeks a year."
According to Mr. Annan, that has given our real game away.
Any journalist who deals with information and misinformation should be aware the more shocking something sounds, by some strange paradox, the more believable it is.
As a teacher who works at Seneca College in the computer studies department, I would like to reply.
Do we actually work 14 hours a week in my department?
I often find myself working through the weekend to keep up. One of our teachers posted an e-mail indicating that, for most of us, it is more like 60 hours.
It is interesting to note the average salary increase for college presidents over the past four years is 37.8 per cent.
Do we work 35 weeks a year?
I can assure you during reading weeks there is a lot of marking and setting of new assignments and lab work.
Other weeks are taken up with professional development.
It has been 17 years since the last college strike.
Since that time the number of students has increased by 50 per cent and the number of full-time faculty has decreased by 20 per cent.
We are all trying to do more with less but a line has to be drawn. The real issue is community college underfunding.
We don't all make $95,000 a year: the average salary is a lot less."

RUSSELL PANGBORN
Keswick

Reality Check

This is not a recent "letter to the editor" but in my view this professor makes some excellent points. I only found it today ...

" 'Real-World' Reality Check

As a college graduate and now 25 yrs later as a college Professor, I believe that I have a fairly unique perspective on the diminishment of the quality of the education that we are able to offer our students. In a shop class learning how to weld 25 years ago we had 10 students/teacher; now, I have a maximum class size of 26 students learning how to weld. (Have any of the readers ever tried to teach a hands-on skill like welding to 26 people at once? What we have is one teacher putting out fires and trying to keep 26 people from hurting themselves. In Alberta the same high-demand occupation has a student teacher ratio of 12:1.) In a theory class 25 years ago we had 20 students/teacher; now, I have a maximum class size of 52 students (and we don’t have TA’s to do our marking like the University Professors). In terms of class sizes this is a 260% increase.In the program that I took 25 yrs ago a full year of training amounted to a minimum of 800 hrs; now we try to teach the same program (and give out the same diploma) after only 600hrs/year.This is a 25% decrease in teaching time.I think that our program is a microcosm of the problems within the system. Speaking to faculty colleagues I see the same problems occurring in all college programs. What is driving this decrease in quality? #1: The province provides only about 75% of the grant funding to college students that it does to students in a university program. (How much material and equipment are required by universities to educate students for a B.A. in English, verses teaching an apprentice Millwright how to weld?)#2: Ontario has the lowest per/student funding to college students of any province. (Where is the industrial heartland of this country?)#3: From 1988 to 2003 the full-time enrollment of the college’s increased by >50% while the number of full-time faculty has dropped by >20%.I am concerned for our current students; however I am more concerned that if we don’t turn this trend around now this province is going to be in even worse shape in regards to a skilled-trades shortage. Don’t people realize that the wealth creating jobs and industries rely upon skilled-trades and the university grads with BA’s are a dime a dozen?This is why I am on strike.
P.S. – I do not make anywhere near $94,000 per year; but I can tell you that I was making more than that in industry prior to becoming a college Professor. I certainly didn’t come to the college system to get rich. If that was what I wanted I would be in Northern Alberta right now doing just that! Prior to being ASKED to come to teach at my college 5 yrs ago, I worked in the 'real-world' for 20 years. I took a cut in pay with my eyes-wide open. The college's in general struggle to find qualified trades people to teach because they rarely offer full-time positions and the wages are often not competitive with the 'real-world'. If push-comes to shove I could go out into industry and make that kind of money again...and the college system and the students will be the poorer for it."

Source: http://www.parrysoundnorthstar.com/1142440375/

What About Accountability?

Another comment from a faculty member on my shift ...

"This is my tenth day on the picket line and I can honestly say that not once have I heard a faculty member say that they want more money in their personal pockets, nor that they want to work less. But I do hear again and again stories of how frustrated they are at not being able to do the job as effectively as they want to, because their classes are too big to work with, their labs are overcrowded, and that their classes have been stuffed with students that the college expects to complete their year regardless of achievement relative to "academic quality" (as in assignments not completed, tests failed, and so on) and lack of quality control on course achievement relative to student progress.

(And when was the last time that your management reviewed your evaluation factors in terms of measuring achievement of course outcomes?)

I have to believe that if the managers at our college just taught one class every year or so, they would hear what their faculty are telling them; however, my impression is that they would rather not know what we have to deal with, and instead just focus on making the numbers work out to fit what they have determined to be their budgets, not what $$$ they have. As far as we know, nobody holds management accountable for how or on what they spend their budget $$$, no matter how much money the government gives them. Have the colleges been underfunded? No question. But has anyone held college management accountable as to how they spend that money?"

Diary of a Picket Captain #3

Again ... not from me.

"Monday: Thunderstorms, lightening, and rain! What a way to start the week. I sent people away until 9:00 and by then, at least, the lightening had gone. We are able to turn away service trucks from entering the College –gives us a feeling of power! An administrator used the security to take her out and back into the College – are we that scary? DL was here to tell us about the rally on Thursday. We finally barbecued our hot dogs – it was a nice break about 10:00 and we are planning on more food for each day.
Tuesday: cold and very windy! The snow comes at us sideways into our faces – not nice! We had a representative from The Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Federation walk the picket line with us; his huge flag was very visible flowing in the wind. A supervisor from Canpar had to drive their truck into the College; he was not “a happy camper”. We had meatballs and sauce from M& M heated in a crock pot for our snack!
Wednesday: cold , windy and sideways snow! We had another representative from The Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Federation walk the picket line with us with his huge flag. The big success of the day was that JB was able to secure our portapotty so it is now upright every morning when we arrive. NB brought homemade soup but the afternoon shift enjoyed it as it was not hot enough for us. BL, the voice of doom, is getting on everybody’s nerves. We are not receiving pallets from the college anymore- I wonder whose decision that was to let us freeze!
Thursday: cold but sunny! We had barbecued hot dogs again. The Canadian College Basketball Association are having their games at Davis. So we were able to talk to students and coaches from B.C., Quebec and Nova Scotia as well as all around Ontario. Most are very friendly and supportive. Some faculty went to the rally at Queen’s Park but most of us wanted to stay to have a presence at Davis. We put signs on trees warning drivers to slow down and be cautious. I dropped over around 4:00 and the night shift was dealing with more cars and more aggressive drivers. Two students bumped a faculty member and they called the police. The students came back to apologize and eventually LC agreed that the students could write a letter of apology. Frustration is starting to show on both sides. But the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities has requested that both sides come to present their case to him on Friday- yeah!
Friday: Another cold but sunny day! It was very quiet on the picket line- no flyers to hand out and not many cars. Everybody was feeling relieved because the two sides had decided to talk again. The union negotiating committee wanted to start on Saturday but the management side is waiting until Monday to present a changed offer. BL says he is not portraying himself as the “voice of doom” anymore- I hope so! Our cheques arrived and we were laughing that it was like food stamps as, now, we could go and buy food. We drank hot mulled apple cider as a treat."

Thanks my friend!

John Keats

Thanks to Indigo shopping bags, which have reminded me of the Keats quote .. "Give me books, fruit, french wine, fine weather, and a little music..." We're still missing a couple of those on the picket lines but at least the fine weather has showed up for the last two days! And we had some fruit brought in, too, which was a very pleasant change from the Timbits.

Speaking of pleasant things: one of my ex-students came by with a load of firewood for us and (although I was unfortunately not there at the time) spoke to N____, also one of his former professors. He's going to come by with more next week, so I hope to have a chance to speak to him. If you find this posting, Jeff, thanks very much! And yes ... we ARE too old to be stuck out here :-))) Other pleasant things -- two former faculty members were out on the lines in the last couple of days, bring moral support and goodies like hot chocolate. It was great to see them. They were out in '84 and '89 and know how important support is. Thanks, O___ and R____ we were very glad to see you. And thanks, too, to Steve, our local host at Louisiana's, and the rest of the wait staff there, who treated the 7:30 - 11:30 gang to cabbage rolls after the shift. You're the best!

I would encourage anyone here to read the Centennial blog. Its author worked at Sheridan many years ago and he brings his wonderful sense of humour as well as his delightful prose to this blog, and I think you'll enjoy it. See the blog link on the right for the "Unfettered" from Centennial for his comments.

Back to Keats. For the first time in ages I feel no guilt about reading just for pleasure. My usual reading is job-related except for maybe 1/2 an hour just before retiring for the evening. But this week I have shamelessly ignored all course-related reading at all. (What the heck, who knows what parts of the courses I teach will be deemed "not essential", or even if I will have the same courses when we do get back, so why should I bother keeping up in the field until that is defined.) So I am O/D-ing on my favourite fiction. The nice thing about having a birthday the day before a strike is that I have several new books for my birthday (thanks to my friends and my nephews/nieces) so I can happily indulge in escapist fiction. I am trying to portion it out so that they last me for a while. My sisterin-law works for local libraries, so when they are done I'll get her to get me some others. I was going to take some out of the library before the strike, but we were sent an email warning us that we would be fined if our books went overdue during the strike. (Someone told me that they have since changed this policy, but by then I was on strike, so it does me no good that they have rescinded the policy now.)

They Don't Get It

A fellow colleague who went to the rally on Thursday spoke to some faculty from another college. Here's what he told me ... "At the rally today faculty standing beside us from another college, on hearing that we were from Sheridan said 'We have gone on Sheridan's website and cannot believe the negative things your president says about you. We are glad we are not at Sheridan'."
Hmmm ... maybe they were from Mohawk? Or gosh golly gee whiz, maybe we are the worst faculty in the system? Or I can think of other options here.

Day 8 (if you don't count the weekend)

Ok I felt like blogging for myself today, as the last few posts have been spent with others ideas, and some stuff is bubbling over in my gut today.

First, I have spent a lot of my picketing time in the last 3 days internally ruminating on why there are such huge differences between the way the various presidents of the colleges are communicating with the faculty, and in fact the huge differences in plans (it seems) to deal with how to "commit" to students that they will be able to sucessfully complete their year. (If readers are aware of the legislation they will clearly see the threat the council is making in this communique -- see section 56 (1) h.) This ties in clearly with the comment made to me the day before the strike by a top member of the administration here that we should not count on the goverment to "bail us out". (Just for the record .... I don't do bailing. Never have. I see things through.)

I was very pleased to see this article from the Hamilton Spectator. The Mohawk president's attitudes seem very reasoned, appropriate and "managerial". Then you get the blind and unthinking followership (versus leadership) at our college, which simply mouths the blather coming out of the CCAC (read "The Council") and which follows Rick Miner's line that management may teach and mark (based on what knowledge base?) to ensure the students can complete their term "successfully" (as in hand them over a diploma so that they'll all be happy).

Now I want to students to complete their term "successfully" too, but consider Rick Miner's statement in terms of these numbers and the suggestions as to how this might occur.

I came to no real answer as to why there are such huge differences, other than to assume there is a basic lack of respect for any of the work we do by some of the presidents (and vpa's and directors of h/r). Rick Miner's views (and those at other colleges who reflect his views) imply that these presidents see absolutely no value in what we know, or what we do, or the skills it takes to do it, so they proposed that a very small number of administrators could easily do our jobs. Gee ... I wonder why they didn't try this before, in order to reduce those horrific costs that they complain of? And, as I blogged long before Miner's statement, we have been asking for years around here to get administrators (I can't bring myself to call them managers) into the classroom for at least one course per term, and they won't do it. Gotta wonder why!

Whatever happens, whether we are out another week or two or another 5 or 6 months, the relationships at our college between faculty and top administration have been destroyed. It's a shame, because until recently (as in the last couple of years) we had what we THOUGHT there was a pretty good relationship between the faculty and the administration. There were relatively few grievances (can't quote the numbers, but have been told that it was one of the lowest grievance #s in the province.) What changed? Well ... for one thing, at our college the people in top management changed. And it would appear that administration attitudes changed at the same time. New president, new vpa, new h/r honcho. And also a change in the BoG (that's Board of Governors). We had been trying until this last couple of months to give the top administrators the benefit of the doubt. "Oh," we'd say, when someone told us they had heard one of these people say that faculty were "lazy" ... "you must have misheard them, or taken it out of context." Oh no my friends, we did not mishear. That was the changed attitudes we were hearing, shouted out loud and clear. But we wanted to think the best of them. So we blamed "this incident" or "that individual" as causing the reaction of the administration ... and said to ourselves that surely it could not reflect the overall view of the administration. Boy were we wrong!

On a different note ... I received an email (from the link on our website I think) today from someone who is clearly a member of our Sheridan faculty (the contents revealed a knowledge of our CCFD that would only be known to one of "ours"). It was very indicative of what I am hearing on the line ... hilariously and truthfully rude regarding how the moneys our college does have are currently being misspent, as well disparaging of the inane comments coming from The Council. And I thought I needed to vent -- My comments would be seen as compliments to our administration, compared to what was in this one! Thanks, "Sheridan Reporter". I am still debating whether to post your rant verbatim ... gonna ask around and see if I can be held responsible for what it says if I post it here. But for the record, "Reporter", you made my day and I hope that just writing this helped you to vent, too!

On a closing note ... one of the highlights of our picket day today was arriving and finding that the portapotty had not been blown down overnight! This is the first time in the last 3 picketing days that our guys did not have to set it upright. Thanks to J___ and N___, who uprighted it each day, and who got the 2x4s and braced it up yesterday. Hopefully it will still be upright tomorrow when we arrive. We had other highlights from today too, but I need some rest.

See you on the lines tomorrow!

Diary of a Picket Captain #2

Day 4:

We are starting to get into a routine. My husband, R___, drives his truck to the parking lot and he transports me and all my stuff over to the site. J___ or N___ are there early to help me take the generator out of the trailer. We get the fire going and the generator running. By that time, people are arriving. They sign in, get their signs and start to picket. I plug in the hot water and make the coffee. J___ helps out inside the trailer with people signing in, etc.

Some of the guys tear apart the pallets which have appeared during the night. They help get the fire started and keep it going. So we just keep picketing. Some stop to get warm inside the trailer or over the burn barrel. We give out flyers if they are available and we keep walking and talking and eating donuts and drinking coffee, waving to people who honk their horns. In the last hour, N___ counts down the time. 11:00 a.m. comes and we can go home, have a shower, eat and rest to get ready for tomorrow morning.

It is very interesting to watch people. We are all in the same situation but everyone reacts differently. Some people walk fast, mostly by themselves. Others keep in packs and slowly walk and talk. Some just naturally pitch in to help and take over tasks they know need to be done. Most people are not comfortable stopping cars and giving out flyers. But there are a few who like to talk to the drivers and they seek out the cars they can stop. But they are all contributing to our cause in some way.

I remember Burrt Bonnell, long since retired, who said that after each of our strikes, the Ontario government in power at the time lost their majority. Does McGuinty realize how many college graduates there are out there?

Hightlights: We got the Schindeler Elevator truck to turn around - yeah! Brinks, Purolator, and another (forgot the name) left immediately. Power can go to your head!

Basics is not unionized so they enter the college every morning. B___ had taken coffee and donuts every morning to the high school teachers who were on the picket lines in '97, so I phoned the OSSTF rep. and left a message asking for their support.

Highlights: An OSSTF rep. showed up at about 3:30 with coupons for Tim Hortons. He stayed and talked to us. Next week is their March break but I hope they will be back. I also left an email message on the OSSTF web site.

B___ stopped the college president to give him a flyer and told him that we did not appreciate his last communique (which was very negative to faculty) and if he thought it was bad now, he should wait until we got back in. The president never said a word, just kept his head down. J___ and others talked to the VPA in her red firebird. She said she did not know that anybody had been hurt on the picket lines. She also thought she communicated a lot with faculty. She was told differently. She tried to be friendly and talk ... but is that two-faced? Somebody on the line said that "it is scary to know that the management are in there doing stuff and we are not there to fix up their mistakes".

Views from the Picket Lines

Submitted to the Local by John Pardee -- many thanks, John!

On March 7, 2006, all Ontario college teachers, counsellors and librarians who belong to the Ontario Public Service Employee’s Union (OPSEU) began a province-wide strike. Many views about the strike have been expressed in the media and also through press releases on the part of both management and the union. This article attempts to capture the views of the teachers themselves based on interviews conducted on the picket lines during the first few days of the strike. Teachers were asked to give their views about the strike and also their reactions and responses to comments made by management.

First, it is necessary to outline the different teaching positions at the colleges. These differences are caused by management hiring practices over the last several years, and must be taken into account because not all teachers experience the same realities when it comes to the issues pertaining to the strike. Those teachers currently on strike include full-time and also "partial-load" faculty. Partial-load faculty are those instructors who teach between 7 and 12 hours per week. Partial-load instructors must be differentiated from "part-time" and "sessional” instructors. Part-time instructors teach less than 7 hours per week while sessional instructors teach more than 12 hours per week.

Despite the nominal differences, partial load, part-time, and sessional instructors are all hired by the colleges on a contract basis. Contract teachers represent a cheaper pool of labour for the colleges since they are paid an hourly teaching wage (not salaries), receive fewer (if any) benefits and can be hired on a per need basis. In fact, sessional instructors may work as many as 18 hours per week, but are paid significantly less than full-time employees. Indeed, once a partial-load instructor exceeds 12 hours of teaching, they become a sessional instructor and, subsequently, receive a significant pay cut (and they also lose their partial benefits). This absurd pay structure punishes teachers who are willing to work more hours and, at the same time, benefits the colleges by saving them money.

Moreover, part-time and sessional instructors (by Ontario law) cannot organize under a union. They are, therefore, not currently on strike. This is an issue that, unfortunately, is not part of the negotiations at this time, but one that should be dealt with in the near future. As a result, teachers that are currently on strike include full-time and partial-load faculty, but not part-time and sessional instructors. Nevertheless, it is important to keep in mind the experiences of part-time and sessional instructors during this strike. Furthermore, all college teachers, regardless of whether or not they are on strike, share a concern for maintaining some type of control over their classroom experiences and for assuring quality of education for their students.

In terms of the issues pertaining to the strike, teachers are demanding better working conditions that would benefit teachers and students alike. The issue is not just salaries! Teachers are primarily concerned with quality of education, particularly class sizes. Ask any teacher (or student for that matter) and they will tell you that fewer students in classes allow them to excel. Indeed, smaller classes give teachers the chance to address individual student needs more effectively and allow students to be more engaged. Other issues include the number of hours of teaching and the amount of time allocated for preparing for classes. At present, negotiations seem to be fixed on the issue of class size. Teachers are demanding smaller classes while management considers the current situation “fair.”

One college president recently commented: “the OPSEU strike is unnecessary and is unfair to our students.” He also asked: “why is OPSEU disrupting 150,000 college students’ school year.” These comments were shared with faculty on the picket lines and they provided their reactions and responses.

"As one faculty member remarked: “besides the use of the common rhetoric that pits students against teachers, the president’s comments are an attempt to divide the union from its members by specifically referring to OPSEU, and not the teachers themselves. It is not OPSEU that is on strike, per se, but many college teachers as a collective who are represented by OPSEU. The president cannot refer to one while ignoring the other. This strike has a human element to it, and that element is the teachers, and also the counsellors, and librarians!”

Other faculty members on the picket lines agreed that students are being affected by the strike. However, as one faculty member noted, “this is true more in the short-term, but in the long-run, all students, those currently enrolled in the colleges and also those in the future, will benefit from smaller class sizes since more attention will be given to each individual student.” This, of course, also depends on management’s willingness to address the issue of class size.

Finally, to answer the president directly, one OPSEU member argued: “college teachers are on strike because we have been without a contract for more than six months. We are asking management to come to the table to discuss the matters important to us, especially class size.”

The same college president, commenting on the offer made to the union, said: “the colleges have provided a good offer to OPSEU that increases the maximum salary for faculty to more than $94,000, with no increase to workload.” He also said: “[currently] college instructors teach an average of 14 hours a week with class sizes averaging 28.” According to this president, the offer made to the union is “fair.”

Reactions and responses to these comments by teachers on the picket lines are very consistent. As one faculty member argued, “averages do not reflect reality.” Based on the interviews, it is clear that very few faculty members earn the maximum salary of $94,000. In fact, this figure is quite inflated compared to the earnings of most college teachers. For part-time, partial-load, and sessional instructors, this figure is a figment of the imagination!

The same holds true in regards to the number of hours of teaching per week and average class sizes. As one faculty member observed: 'the average number of hours of teaching per week does not take into consideration preparation time, like designing and marking tests and meeting with students.” And in regards to average class sizes (a central issue in the strike) while it is true that some classes have 28 students, it is not uncommon for some classes to have as many as 45 students. “My class sizes average 35-45 students and one year I had three students writing their exam on the floor because there were not enough chairs in the classroom. The college attempts to ram 43 students in a classroom that can only hold 40 students,' said one teacher. This is a clear indication that the averages referred to by the president due not truly depict the reality of the classroom situation. A partial-load instructor on picket duty succinctly captured the issue of class size when he said, "students benefit from smaller class sizes…it’s just one of those things that’s blatantly obvious. It gives the students more time with the teacher and the teacher can pay more attention to individual students."

"In interviews with faculty on the picket lines, one theme became clear, and that is they would like to see an end to the strike and be back in the classroom. Still, as one member noted: “yes, we’d rather be in the classroom, but we will not waver from our position and we will stand strong.”

John Pardee,
Partial Load Faculty

Comments from a Colleague's Perspective

(These are comments that were emailed to me... some edits have been made to ensure anonymity.)

"I don’t know about you, but in an effort to remain professional, I don’t think we said very much (about our position) and I suspect that wonderful blog written by the Humber student came about partially at least by the fact that she may have been exposed to more “open” professors prior to the strike who shared their union concerns. Some of us talked about this last week while walking. Regrets at not saying more. When at (your campus) last Monday, I found the graduating students that I am teaching for the first time in years this semester to be looking forward to a 'holiday'...

"Also: I was at a party last night for my daughter with a third year student friend of hers who is crossing the line to go to class with part timer ???? I thought there was no teaching. I think the part timer is communicating with these students to help them not lose anything in the course in terms of time. I was shocked, but it was my daughter’s birthday party so didn’t follow that conversation perhaps as much as I should have to acquire the details and see if I had understood the whole thing correctly.

"While my students last week seemed to be on anaesthetic, (too soft an approach by faculty to reduce their worry?) there were others I overheard in the cafeteria in definite distress that they would lose their entire tuition for the year it sounded like and have to do the whole thing again (fear mongering by other professors?)

"What I haven’t heard is an educated, intelligent comment from students as to what this is really (according to us at least) all about. And perhaps that is the fault of faculty. Yes, we shouldn’t take inordinate amounts of time pushing our own agenda in a classroom, but for heaven’s sake, when we have been asked ... what have we said that would get these students out on the line and out in support of their faculty?

"Anyone (and that certainly includes me, who has been guilty of not saying anything valuable when opportunities presented themselves) who was on the last two strikes remembers the Council trying to gain sympathy by media comments around our long, long vacations etc. So we shouldn’t be shocked that they would do their best to educate everyone to see a less than balanced answer when they see teachers out there. I even think, sad as it is, that people remember all the high school and elementary strikes in the last 15 years and lump us all into that.

"What I should have done if I had been at all intelligent last night, was ask my doughter's friend to come out with some of her friends and walk our picket line with us for ½ hour or more. But I’m too professional? Of just meek? My daughter's friend was very supportive in terms of her opinion of her faculty, so that’s where things could start? Do you think your teachers are doing a good job? Are they prepared? Are they interested in your education? If so, get out there and be interested in the future of education. It’s a different time than when you had sit ins, isn’t it??
.... I did make my daughter's friend promise ;-) to write to MPP’s and Premier. I hope she does this and encourages others to do that also."

Diary of a Picket Captain...

Tuesday March 7, 2006
7:30 - 11:00
People were here very early. We had the trailer but no generator until about 10:00. It is cold but sunny (-2C). Everybody's spirits seemed high. J___ helped sign people up in the trailer which was great. We had a flyer to give out. Very few students came in, so the traffic was light. There were few cars with passes (I saw about 6 or 7 .. where are the rest?) (The president) stopped and got out of his car to talk to us on the way in and when he was leaving; he talked about a lack of money in the whole system and that his main concern was our safety on the line. We had 20-some people on this shift. Tim Horton donuts and cookies were gratefully accepted from donors. The buses (have) stopped coming in except for Mississauga, who eventually stopped. I am not sure that they were contacted ahead of time.

Wednesday March 8, 2006
Today is supposed to be milder but there is no sun so it seems to be colder (+2C). We have a propane heater in the trailer and, once the generator gets going, a baseboard heater and a micro-furnace in the porta-potty. C___ brought 2 coffee makers so we had coffee nad hot water for tea or for hot chocolate. L___ brought in Tim Horton's coffee in a large jug to get us going. Many people brought the makings for coffee etc. We now have a burn barrel and yesterday afternoon they had pallets (for burning) brought to us by S____. However we had no wood this morning so people scrounged for tree branches and got a hot fire going. I left a message about getting more pallets and nothing happened, so somebody in admin. has shut it down. So we bought firewood which works fine. I tried to get ahold of ourLocal's president and there was no answer -- I later found out that the phone number had been changed. I felt very isolated. We need better ways of communicating. D____ brought more flyers but the same as yesterday only a different colour. I think we should only change colours when we have a different message. Again we had a good turnout but people are getting bored so must think of themes etc. Some people came late, so must make sure they stay later ..... It was very quiet - less students and no new flyer to give out. We have faculty from other colleges - George Brown, Mohawk, Centennial, Georgian. When D___ delivered the flyers he left his car in the entranceway (same place as the president) but he was given a ticket by college security. D___ sent me non-college emails for all the stewards. People are slow and coming to the 11:00 shift so some of us from the earlier shift stayed on. We need to address this.

Thursday March 9, 2006
It is raining! But it is not that cold. Some of the time it rained steadily and up went the umbrellas. Other times it stopped so we got to go through puddles and mud. The guys put holes in the bottom of the burn barrel to get more air into the fire. Pallets had been brought out and the guys pulled them apart. People have droppped off wood to our fire so our fire has lots of fuel. We did not have as many people today -- was it the rain? Our signs started to fall apart in the rain so we need more signs. L___, D___, D____ and W____went to a meeting with the police, the college and the OPSEU lawyer. There were 3 incidents of people being hit by cars at (other campus) and another person was in hospital after being hit today. OPSEU want our lines pushed back into the college property, or we want to bring police onto our lines. We had two good incidents! a Canpar truck (large white van) came wheeling into the entrance and the driver jumped out. He wanted to see the Picket Captain. He then explained to us that he would not cross the picket line. His supervisor had ordered him to, but he would not cross. There were in fact three drivers (at 3 different lines) and none of them would cross the lines. He said that his union steward was going to be talking to his supervisor. So we shook hands and gave him a loud cheer when he left -- he just swung the truck around the end of the median and zoomed out. A Purolator truck entered the college and we were unable to stop him as the lights were on "do not walk". On the way out he had to stop and we asked him why he was crossing the picket line as we would not cross his. He was a young guy, half-listening to us with a cell phone in his ear. He said his supervisor told him to come in. About half an hour later I was in the trailer and a picketer said someone wanted to see me. There was the Purolator truck, parked at the side of the road, and the same driver got out to see me. He apologised profusely for crossing the picket line and said he would not go into the college even if we weren't picketing. He had phoned his father, and his father told him that he was union and should not cross. I thanked him and shook his hand. How sweet it was! We had been thinking that we might need some heavy-handed help from people at the CAW but maybe not!

So here we are on a fine Saturday morning, looking back on the first week (well, 4 days) of the college strike. OPSEU says it is going to bring a case of bargaining in bad faith to the Ontario Labour Relations Board -- the government has said that it was "surprised" at OPSEU's workload demands, and altogther it's looking a lot like the last two strikes. Why does it take a strike in this system to get people to talk when they've had, what is it, about 16 months to talk so far and have resolved virtually nothing in that period. If you doubt the lack of progress, have a look at the factfinders report dated last July, and then have a look at the positions of both parties (union and management) and figure out for yourself how much progress has been made since July.

We didn't have our Hotdog Day yesterday because it was just too wet and windy to get the BBQ's fired up. So maybe Monday wil bring better hot dog weather. It was neither as wet nor as cold yesterday, but weather like today's would have been a lot nicer! (Note to self -- remember to bring my sunscreen on Monday). This looks like a great weekend to get started cleaning up the detritus left over from the winter and perhaps to get an early start on gardening for the spring! And it's really nice not to be faced with a pile of marking.

It's a shame that the presidents of the colleges have taken such a negative view of what should be considered a standard (although unwelcome) part of the labour relations process. They appear to be spouting the standard Council line to the students (or in some cases, even worse than standard) on their college websites. Don't they realise that when this is over, they will have to work with us again? Why do they want to antagonise their faculty? Why not just leave this to the negotiators? What really amazes me is that our own higher-up administrators have stated that they were surprised that we supported a strike mandate to such a great extent. Hmmm ... I wonder who they've been talking to. Surely not our faculty, who have been getting more and more upset about workload for the last two or three years. Nor to the Deans, as I know several of them were not surprised. But they say they've been talking to faculty "a lot". They may have been talking, but it seems clear to me that they didn't hear the message when it came to working conditions and workload. I just love the argument that we only teach 14 hours per week on average. I would not be surprised that this could be the average figure, but if it is it is because class sizes are too big for 18 teaching hours to fit into the current the workload provisions.

I was in a meeting the week before the strike, where it was suggested to one of our senior management that all adademic administrators should teach just one class section a year, and I would heartily support that: they need some hands-on experience with what it's like to prepare, teach and evaluate in the system as it stands. (Of course there was no response to that.) Our Deans and VPs used to do that -- it really gave them a sense of reality in the classroom.

It also used to be that college faculty needed to do two jobs -- be experts in their subject area and teach it effectively. However in the last 5 years or so around our workplace we have added a third and fourth major task to the job -- mastering the technology and creating learning materials that incorporate technology in the classroom. Ask me how much time has been allocated to do that, other than in the first year of the inception? (You guessed it -- big goose-egg!)

Which brings me to a topic that the morning line were discussing after picketing duty yesterday. Around our college a lot of the faculty do a great deal of "volunteering". We volunteer to staff "welcome to the college" events which are usually held on the weekends or evenings. We work with students to prepare them for such things as the Ontario colleges marketing competition. We volunteer for the endless numbers of committtees around the college. We volunteer to attend student presentations to provide out-of-class mentoring on presentation skills for students. Many of us voluntarily coach and mentor new and part-time and sessional faculty. We volunteer to run sessions for PD days that the administration organises. And so on, and so on. None of this has ever been "recorded" as part of our workload. And in the past most of us have been ok with that, as we see these activities as making a valuable contribution to the overall educational experience for students in the college. But no more. The one thing that we all agreed on was that we would no longer be "volunteering". If it's worth doing, it's going to have to be recorded in the future. This is a definite reaction to the statements that have been made about "lazy" faculty.I'm certainly not suggesting a work-to-rule scenario at all or anything like that, but just that all those voluntary things that have been a regular part of our willing cooperation with college administrators will now have to be recorded or they won't get done. Maybe this is the only way to help administration recognise what we have all been doing. And if they don't want it done, then that's fine, I won't have to waste my time on these unimportant things.

Our college has also had a local agreement for a long time that full-time instructors can simply be paid if they wish to teach in continuing education. We know that some other colleges insist that any such assignments appear on the workload agreement, but our Local has chosen not to implement that, since up until now most of our faculty has felt that it was good to allow full-time faculty if they wished to teach in continuing education as well as teach full-time in their regular programs, as their knowledge and experience would improve the continuing education offerings. However we all agreed yesterday that we should no longer allow this practise to continue. I am sure that a number of us will be speaking to our LEC about cancelling this local agreement.

I have received some materials from other people on "the line", so my next couple of posts will be from other peoples' perspectives, 'cause I'm getting cranky again! And I've got more pictures to post. Am thinking I may put them up on Yahoo or something like that so that those will dial-up will be able to see them without waiting forever for them to load.

The Incredible Boredom of Being ...

One of the many random thoughts that we have been discussing on the picket line is the incredible boredom of picketing. We are used to a certain amount of mental stimulation (a huge advantage of teaching in a post-secondary environment) which comes from our students and our fellow-professors in an average day. The picket line is sadly not particularly conducive to deep thought. It does lead to some pleasant conversations, and does give us the opportunity to talk with some people that we rarely get a chance to talk to, and also to chat with people from other colleges, but it's still hard to get into a meaningful conversation while watching out for cars running the line, for traffic lights, and for those occasional management sightings. ("Look there's one now ... let's give them a flyer and see what they do with it!") To say nothing of the fact that in the crowds that assemble on the sidewalks on the other side, we tend to lose our current conversation partner so we have about 30 seconds' worth of talk time before we lose contact, so discussions tend to be short. On the whole I think that the sit-ins in the 60's were much more mentally stimulating, even if we were freezing for a lot longer. I recall three weeks I spent, almost without a break, in front of the US consulate back in "the good old days" of the early 60's when protesters included people who are now pillars of society (as in Clay Ruby, Graham Fraser, Jay Keystone) and so on. We had some great conversations in those days. I spent almost 24 hours in non-stop discussion with some of them. Maybe we should reconsider this picketing tactic and go for the sit-ins again? :-)))

And in those days we got food too ... Shopsy's sent down a truck several times a day as I recall, to ensure that we didn't have to leave for nourishment. Of course ... strikes are a different story, and I certainly do not intend to draw a comparison here, but only wanted to draw attention to the lack of mental stimulation now as opposed to then.

The short marches back and forth across the entrance to the college (as opposed to long rambles in the woods, for example) are not very inspiring. We are thinking of bringing some trivia questions (baby boomer generation that is) to the line tomorrow so that we can at least have a part of our brain engaged. I do remember a similar feeling back in '89 but it is so long ago that the mental pain of the monotonous to-and-fro has been mercifully wiped from the top of my memory bank. This is bringing it back. Anybody got some good ideas for useful brain exercise whilst we saunter to and fro?

We're trying to think of theme days to keep ourselves amused and awake. Certainly St. Patrick's Day provides us with a costume opportunity. (I am thinking of donning a dark brown outfit with a white woolley cap -- thank goodness it's Guinness). And speaking of nourishment, tomorrow is going to be our BBQ day on the line, thanks to our clever Picket Captain and a fellow picketer who will be bringing hotdogs to be grilled over the oil drum. Today it has been my fingers that are doing the walking ... I am feeling less-than-happy, since I did not walk on the line: instead I was sitting on my duff updating our website from the luxury of my (dry) livingroom. Even though I know that keeping communications up and running is important, I still feel I should have been out there. Our Picket Captain is going to send me stories from the line later today, so I will at least have some second-hand observations about today to pass on later. I did get some good photos (thanks Carol and Mark and Brian) from fellow-picketers, which I was able to post today, and I was able to update a number of other things so I suppose I should be satisfied. But there's something about being "out there" that is important to me, and I missed that. I'll be out there tomorrow. I hope to hear some stories later tonight: if so, I'll post them later tonight or tomorrow. Over and out for now.

Well Day 2 is done like dinner! I guess I am actually in better shape than I might have thought, as the 4 hours of walking is not causing me any problems. Most of the folk on the line are saying the same thing. My guess is that we wind up walking more than we think we do in the classroom. I know that I never really sit down in the class or in my labs, so in effect while I'm "working the room" I am getting my daily dose of exercise.

We had our trailer on Day 1, contrary to what we had feared, but sadly the generator did not arrive until the end of the first shift, and all the oil drums seemed to get delivered to the other campus, so the first morning was quite cold. Today was better: the generator was up and running so we had hot water for tea and coffee, and some the picketers took time off the line to collect downed branches and get a fire started. By the time the shift was ending our site coordinator had managed to get some "real" firewood, too, so when I left the line there was a pretty good fire blazing. I hope the afternoon shift was warmer!

I was not the only faculty member who was pretty annoyed at this posting on our college site. It is certainly inflammatory in my view, and I for one am tired of being blamed by management simply because we exercise our rights under the CCBA (Colleges' Collective Bargaining Act). Why is it only OPSEU's responsibility? We have also posted the article from The National Post which includes this quote from Rick Miner -- ''There is no reason for a strike and we are disappointed that OPSEU has chosen to unnecessarily disrupt the students' school year,'' said Miner. OPSEU has chosen? Excuse me ... negotiations take two parties. Give me a break!

And in addition this is the same guy that said in the National Post that "concerns over class sizes and a shortage of full-time staff didn't arise in talks until Monday night." Hello .... this has been posted on OPSEU's website since March 2005 (that's a year ago, Mr. Miner!) But I guess the Council has simply not been reading. Or maybe cannot? (OK that was a low blow!)

I also don't recall hearing that the management side has even asked for arbitration (which they can do under the act), and as for me, I would love to see the option for "final offer selection" tried out one of these days. That nifty little clause would send the final positions of both parties to an arbitrator, and the arbitrator would "select" whichever of the two offers seemed most appropriate. Not an arbitration but a simple selection -- whichever position is most reasonable. An interesting potential. Of course, that option has never been exercised.

Oh dang, you might think from this rant that I'm a bit prejudiced. Well ... I guess if sticking to the truth is being prejudiced, then I am.

Alright I have to go and download some pics from the lines now ... gotta post those plus work on some other stuff for our local website. BBL over and out.

Sigh .. Well Maybe I Will Lose Weight

Wish I weren't here but I am (along with approximately 9100 other faculty members) so I may as well continue this blog. I will ask the Local's permission later this evening to post a link to this Blog for our folks on our Local site, and if I don't get permission to do that I will FW this to the two other college strike bloggers, so hopefully the word will get out that the Bloggers Are Here.

I am doing the early picket shift -- goodness only knows why, because I HATE the cold (at least, ever since I gave up skiing I do!) but on the other hand it gets the obligation over early and leaves me the rest of the day to maintain the website and warm up.

After my picket duty today I watched CITY TV today which had a phone-in and e-mail in hour devoted to the strike. I was disappointed (but not surprised) that the calls were generally anti-faculty. Most of the callers/e-mailers were students, so the fact that the opinions were 2-1 anti-faculty is in a sense understandable, but I am concerned that we as faculty have clearly been too "even-handed" and even overly management-oriented in talking to students. Mea Culpa frankly. I have tried to present a reasoned approach to my students, and have encouraged them to research the topic. Gad ... what a mistake.... see below.

When I got off the picket line I checked my email and got one from a student (not just sent to me) which stated amongst other things ... "This is the second time in 3 years that our teachers have more than willingly, simlply [sic] abandoned all care and concern that they have constantly stated they have for us students ... these trends of strikes every other year confirms their ideology and mindset."

I find this comment fascinating, given that college faculty has not been on strike in the last 17 years. Hello???

Such is life. I have simply deleted the e-mail. It is not worthy of reply.

It's Looking Pretty Bleak

It's Friday and the strike is called for Tuesday. Granted they have 3 more days to talk but nobody around the college, faculty or management, seems to hold out much hope for the situation. I have set up this blog as a place for faculty to vent, assuming the worst case scenario. The last two strikes went on for 4 and 41/2 weeks, so to expect much less is being hopeful. There is certainly talk that because there is much more summer activity now than there was in the last one (1989) that the time frame may be more critical and that the CRC may therefore intervene sooner, but nobody really knows in this type of situation.

As I'm on the 7:30 a.m. shift I expect it will be pretty cold, and unfortunately (at least day one) there will not be a trailer set up yet. After the last threatened strike the Local paid $1000 for a trailer that was never needed, so this time they decided not to set it up ahead of time. Understandable, but it may make for a very chilly Tuesday morning. The good news (of sorts) is that apparently the portapotty was to arrive yesterday, so at least we'll have that.

As usual in these situations, rumours abound. Once we were told to submit all grades to date, the rumour flew around that they were going to grant aegrotat standings to all students and then operate the summer semester with nothing but p/t and sessional (since they are not covered by the contract). Ok enough ... I just wanted to get this set up at this point. Will use it if necessary starting Tuesday. Let's hope the negotiators make this unnecessary.