Strike at York -- No end in sight

As a part-time teacher at York (I'm not unionized - the Law School, for some reason, falls outside the union) I am painfully aware of the labour problems at the school. It seems as if every third year there is a labour dispute of some sort or another.

Unions have a legitimate place in society -- that's so clear that the Constitution protects the right to organize -- but they fit uneasily in the context of part-time teachers at a university. For many of the workers, maybe most, the "job" is merely a transitional position and not one they care about very deeply.

I recall being a graduate student teaching classes (albeit many years ago) and while my degree was important to me, the teaching was just a side matter -- so long as I had enough money for my (rather crummy) digs and tuition I really didn't care what I did for part-time work.

York has another problem in that the unions are highly political, and tend to the hard left. What's ironic here is that the employer being struggled against is pretty well as leftist an employer as possible. The university is stuck with the funding it has and isn't really in a position to square the circle.

What all this means is that the strike at York will not end any time soon -- my sense is it will continue until at least the middle of next month. Here's a clip from the Star regarding the strike -- the full-time faculty see the danger to the school is quite real.

Almost 300 current and retired York University faculty are urging their striking colleagues to accept the latest contract offer, end their 10-week walkout and save the school's reputation.

The petition with 282 signatures is addressed to 3,340 teaching assistants, contract faculty and graduate assistants off the job since Nov. 6 who are to vote on the offer Monday and Tuesday.

"The contract that they have been offered is one of the best in Canada. We think what they are getting is more than fair and equitable, given the economic circumstances," one signatory, Prof. Bernard Lightman of the faculty of humanities , said in an interview.

The petition says a prolonged strike would further damage York's academic reputation by diminishing the perceived quality of its graduate and undergraduate degrees.