As of 11:00 am on Feb. 10, 2022, the University of Lethbridge Faculty Association (ULFA) has been on strike. Following the example of the faculty at Concordia University of Edmonton, the ULFA has become the second faculty association in Alberta’s history to go on strike. The roughly 500 members of the ULFA have been without contracts since the end of June 2020. The ULFA’s strike vote, held earlier this month, resulted in a whopping 92 per cent vote in favour of a strike, with 80 per cent of members participating. On Monday, Feb. 7, the ULFA filed a legal strike notice as negotiations with the administration’s bargaining team fell apart when they refused to accept any of ULFA’s demands. The petty administration then locked out the ULFA the following Friday.
The most contentious point of the negotiations is the ULFA’s supposed demand of a 12 per cent wage increase. A spokesperson for the University of Lethbridge went so far as to say the “ULFA’s repeated demand for double-digit percentage salary increases—nearly three times greater than those already accepted by nurses and public sector workers, and after both sides had negotiated to within a one per cent salary gap—is out of touch with today’s economic and workplace realities.” This obvious attempt to split the labour movement is what’s out of touch, as both the United Nurses Association (UNA) and the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE), among others, have gone out to support the ULFA’s picket lines.
It must be stated that the 12 per cent wage increase is a complete fabrication by the university administration to portray the ULFA as greedy opportunists. In fact, the ULFA is seeking a mere five per cent increase over four years. Their former contract saw the ULFA members lose 15 per cent against inflation. ULFA members on average make 17 per cent less than their comparator universities. While ULFA members make much less than faculty at other comparable universities, the University of Lethbridge President, Michael Mahon, makes $449,000 a year. This is more than the presidents of the University of British Columbia and Toronto, both of which have almost three times more students than the University of Lethbridge.
Other demands include ULFA having better control of their benefits package by setting up a committee similar to what is present at the University of Alberta, and more discretionary funds, so that sessional professors do not have to pay for the class textbook out of pocket.
The pettiness of the administration is such that the research assistants who work for faculty members will not be paid for their work, as faculty members cannot sign off on their hours. Instead the university has asked to estimate the hours worked until Feb. 21t, effectively leaving hundreds of students laid off after that time and without a source of income while they study.
The administration has also been using students as weapons against the ULFA. They have been calling for the ULFA to stand down for the sake of the students, portraying students as being scared of losing their semester, of not being able to graduate, and of losing out on their practicums. However, in the history of Canada, no semester has ever been lost due to a faculty strike. Also, there is an old adage in the labour movement: the longer the picket, the shorter the strike. By joining in on the picket lines and supporting the striking faculty, students can ensure that the faculty is successful sooner, without threat to their semester. The University of Lethbridge, like all universities, is nothing without the workers working there. With better working conditions the faculty can provide a much better learning environment for students. The students only stand to gain from a successful faculty strike. Students have shown solidarity, however, and held a march in support of the faculty on Jan. 30.
The administration has drawn a line in the sand because they understand that this strike will reverberate elsewhere. The faculty at the University of Alberta, Mount Royal University, and Athabasca University are all in various stages of contract disputes, with strikes all seeming probable within the coming months. By defeating this strike, the administration is hoping to show who really runs the universities and scaring the bargaining teams at the other universities into submission. Solidarity between the faculties of all the universities in Alberta is what is needed. A win for the ULFA will inspire and embolden the faculties at the other universities.
In light of a potential faculty strike wave across Alberta, the Council for Alberta University Students (CAUS), which represents the undergraduate students in all six of Alberta’s public universities, released a completely reactionary statement, essentially calling for the use of scab labour: “An SIA should include whether classes can continue in any manner (in-person, substitute instructors, online, or not at all).” At no point should students accept substitute instructors while the faculty are on strike. By trying to be a neutral party between the faculty and the administration, CAUS ends up siding with the administration. CAUS is playing the role the administration wants from them: they are a wedge that is splitting the students from the workers.
Since its inception, CAUS has been ineffectual in leading students to fight for better university conditions. Instead of leading students, they again go back to their tactic of “raising awareness.” Students know that their tuition and living costs are going up while at the same time their quality of education is dropping. For years the QS World University Rankings ranked the U of A as a top 100 school, but in 2021 it dropped to 126th place. What students need isn’t more awareness; students need a real student union that’s willing to lead students in the fight for better learning conditions.
Alberta universities are now a hotbed of class struggle. With the victory of Concordia’s faculty, more university staff are daring to take up the fight. A victory for the ULFA will strike another blow to Kenney’s austerity, and set the tone for the struggles at the other universities.
