With the critical job stability weekend approaching, the clock is ticking on a historic opportunity for the employer to lead the way on one of the biggest labour issues facing universities, as well as promoting ongoing labour peace at York University.
Critiques of precariously employed post-secondary educators have come under increasing fire. One example of this is the coverage that the Precarious Historical Instructor’s Manifesto got in the University Affairs article, “Enough talk, it is time to take action to help precarious faculty”. As author Andrea Eidinger states:
I was speaking to someone I know about this, and she asked me a question that provided a great deal of insight. She said, “If you could imagine academia as a glass of water, what colour would it be?” I responded by saying it was black sludge. She then looked me in the eye and said: “Well, then why are you drinking it?” I thought for a moment and said: “The people are awesome, but the system is awful.” And she asked me: “What is this system? Who decides how things are going to be?” The answer, of course, is us.
The answer, of course, is us. The opportunity that presents itself to us this very weekend is to come up with a program that could address precarity and inequity once and for all.
In a recent exploration of the union’s archives, we found bargaining surveys from the 1990s. In these surveys, we found the same priorities as those in the 2020 round of bargaining: without stability, all the other benefits, programs, and opportunities are meaningless to those who fear they will lose access to their jobs from one term to the next. This is a bleak reminder that we have been reaching for solutions to this system of precarity and inequity for decades, with only very limited success. These successes can be attributed to the will, dedication, and spirit of a membership that continues to work in solidarity to improve everyone’s working conditions.
Looking back, we also notice that we have rarely seen meaningful expansion of job security without having to resort to labour action. Precarity as a recurring cause of labour unrest is the past precedent that we share with York. Do we want to spend another few decades having the same exact conflicts in each bargaining round, to the detriment of the university community as a whole?
We can change this. York, you have the power to lead the way for all the other universities wondering how to address this situation you have all made for yourselves, where budget lines have been weighed to be more valuable than basic respect for the workers who keep your institution afloat. This problem will not go away unless we fix it. Tentanda via, York. Don’t squander the opportunity this weekend presents for all of us.
There will be a Unit 2 Townhall on Job Stability on October 28, 11:00am to 1:00pm, to discuss the results of this weekend’s sessions. Here is the link to register in advance for this Townhall. Any proposal would require the Unit 2 membership’s ratification before going into effect. The ratification process would be faithful to the process outlined in the bylaws–a secret ballot vote opened at a GMM and for five days thereafter.
Keep an eye out for more JSJC information on the website this week! If you have any comments, questions, or concerns for the union-side members of the JSJC, they can be reached at cupe3903jsc@gmail.com.