NEWS, ANALYSIS AND OPINON
By E.P. Chant, Managing Editor, Student Publications Division, The Student Representative Council
Well, howdy, folks … And welcome to (God willing) the final installment of “Strikes Odds ‘n’ Ends”.
Let’s take a retrospective look at college students’ exciting day yesterday – November 16, 2017 – shall we? …
• The morning kicked off with the announcement that the striking faculty members represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) had overwhelmingly rejected the contract offer that had been “vote-forced” upon them by the College Employer Council.
• That was quickly followed by Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne and Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development Deb Matthews announcing that they would immediately step in to meet with both parties, to encourage them to get back to the table and negotiate a satisfactory deal – by the end of the day.
Hmmm. Maybe after being “hand-off” with its involvement during the preceding and largely non-productive FIVE WEEKS of this work-stoppage, the Liberals could have applied that sort of pressure a bit earlier in the process.
• The resumption of negotiations between OPSEU and the Council was short-lived because, apparently, the union tossed a brand-new demand on the table when it walked in the room.
The Council claimed OPSEU wanted $5,000 for each and every one of its 12,000 members as a “back-to-work, contract-signing bonus”.
OPSEU contested that portrayal, saying that the demand was (more accurately) for two weeks’ wages for each faculty member, representing the time that was wasted as the “forced vote” process ran its course (and interrupted what could have been useful negotiation time).
In either case, it seems an ill-thought-out idea, because:
– You’re now working under a very tight, government-dictated deadline to get a deal done, and you already have enough unresolved issues that haven’t been dealt with yet. In circumstances like that, you don’t toss a new, last-minute, and highly contentious proposal into the debate; and
– From the public relations perspective – whether it is a “signing bonus” or a “penalty for disrupting the process” – it is the sort of demand that has the potential to dissipate a lot of previously existing student sympathy and support … because it now seems that a big part of this whole fiasco really was “about the money”.
Anyway, by late afternoon, the talks broke off again.
• Upon that announcement, Wynne and Matthews declared that back-to-work legislation would immediately be introduced, the strike would end, faculty would go back to work next week, and classes would resume. A contract is still non-existent at this point. It will be settled by binding arbitration (so, God only knows what will eventually end up in it.)
Hey, great idea! Why didn’t someone think of this before?
Oh, right, someone did … The College Student Alliance, the advocacy group representing the majority of college students in the province, had been lobbying for binding arbitration as a means of settling this situation for the past THREE WEEKS. Dopey students – what do they know?
• Ooops … not so fast. Just when you thought things are, at long last, getting back on track, the provincial New Democratic Party announced that it would not lend its endorsement to the back-to-work legislation. If it had made the process unanimous, in conjunction with the Liberal initiative and Conservative cooperation, the three mandatory readings to implement the legislation could have been conducted in about ten minutes. Instead, even with the majority Liberal position, the House will have to plod through the formal debate process to pass the bill – and possibly even have to sit in emergency session on Saturday to do so.
So, in hindsight, this less-than-half-a-day period on November 16, 2017 was a microcosm of the entirety of the months-long negotiations and, particularly, the five-weeks-long work-stoppage.
During those few hours yesterday, students were repeatedly screwed – and royally screwed over – by several agencies, institutions and authorities, all composed of supposedly mature and wise adults; and all of whom, from Day One, have had the unmitigated gall to avow that “We have the best interests of students at heart”.
Strange. Why aren’t students feeling all warm and fuzzy about how they’ve been so well cared for?
Instead, they are feeling – rightfully – disappointed, disillusioned and disenchanted by everything they’ve experienced during the past five weeks. Every party involved, at one time or another, to one degree or another, has done all students a massive disservice – and, for some, created disastrous life-scenarios.
“Management” and “labour” will eventually get over the dispute. Recriminations and grudges will fall by the wayside, and their collegial relationship will be re-established.
But many students will never recover from the damage and sense of betrayal – to the point that many of them will choose to cease being students, at least within the college system.
That’s a shame, and should be shameful to all of The Powers That Be who were involved in this process (and lack of process). If all of this has constituted your collective effort to protect and enhance “the best interests of students”, we’d hate to imagine what you’d do if you ever wanted to hurt them.
TAKE A BREATH
So, what now for students? … For you, personally.
Can I suggest something?
Take this weekend off. Do something – anything – to take your mind off this whole mess, to try to temporarily forget the past five weeks. Hibernate. Or go out and about. If cocktails are necessary, so be it.
Then, come back next week, even if you aren’t quite sure how – or when or where – you plan to proceed with your education.
Hear, first-hand, about how the college’s contingency plans for the “alternate delivery” of the remainder of the first semester (and the rest of the academic year) will actually affect the configuration and content of each of your courses.
Maybe you’ll find that spirit of resilience that lurks within all of us (that we sometimes don’t even realize that we possess), and you will choose to push ahead to conquer the inherent challenges. Maybe you’ll decide to bail, and hit the “re-set button” for re-enrolment next year.
But, at the very least, find out what’s happening – not in terms of the overall contingency plans, but specifically, course-by-course, for you.
I’m going to suggest that if you can survive the process of completing the first semester, the second semester should run in pretty standard, somewhat less stressful fashion.
After being feeling powerless and voiceless for the past five weeks, this is your opportunity, at long last, to be the sole decision-maker and the “captain of your own fate”.
Whatever you ultimately choose to do, I know it will be the right decision for you.
Welcome back (as of next week). Thanks for reading. And I wish you all the best.
– e.p.c.
