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