Christian university faculty ratifies union

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/04/2023 (1217 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Growing up in an evangelical church many years ago, I was taught that unions were wrong. There was worry about militancy and strikes, but also about pledging allegiance to something other than God and being “yoked” with unbelievers.

When I joined my first union in my 20s, it was with a sense of trepidation. Was it a Christian thing to do?

Today, I no longer have that feeling. And evangelicals today don’t seem to have the same apprehension about unions as they did back then. And yet it was still significant when faculty at Trinity Western University (TWU), an evangelical school in Langley, B.C., decided to unionize — the first Christian university or college in Canada to do so.

The vote about unionizing actually took place in 2021. But it was delayed until this year while the administration challenged the union’s application for certification before the B.C. Labour Relations Board. The board dismissed the challenge and shared the results of the vote on March 10. Sixty-four per cent of the school’s 176 full-time faculty voted in favour of unionizing.

The TWU faculty chose the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) to represent them; CLAC is a national union representing over 60,000 workers in almost every sector of the economy.

CLAC was founded on the belief that businesses are at their best when workers and owners work together, not against each other. Its goal is to create workplaces based on co-operation and mutual respect, seeking win-win solutions to resolve conflicts.

The roots of the TWU union drive go back to 2021. That’s when faculty felt shut out of a decision by the administration to close programs, including TWU’s theatre school. That decision led to a vote of no-confidence in the administration, with 71 per cent of faculty voting in favour of the motion.

“We didn’t feel listened to,” said Kevin Schut, who teaches media and communications studies at TWU. Administration, he said, “refused to engage” when faculty tried to have a voice about the closures.

By forming a union, faculty will be able to “have a seat at the table with administration,” he said, adding “it’s not a question of being angry. We love this institution and are very committed to its vision and mission. We just wanted to be part of making decisions and have our voices heard.”

By unionizing, faculty want to “participate in finding solutions to challenges facing TWU,” Schut said, adding they were attracted to CLAC because its approach to labour relations isn’t adversarial.

“CLAC was a good choice since it seeks harmony in the workplace,” he said. “Our goal is to discover how we can be better partners with the administration.”

Chad Friesen teaches chemistry at the university. He was in favour of a union because “we felt it was important to have a seat at the table … to be involved in decisions about programs.”

Faculty, he said, “see the need for greater accountability” on the part of administration, including being involved in decisions that affect the university. “A union is a way to do that,” he said, adding “we want to participate in finding solutions to the challenges facing TWU.”

Other issues for faculty include academic freedom, wages, and tenure — unlike at other universities, faculty at TWU have to renew their contracts every year.

One faculty member, who didn’t want to be named, suggested progress was being made on those issues under TWU’s previous president, Robert Kuhn, who was there from 2013-19. But that progress has been “rolled back” by the new president, Mark Husbands.

“It’s fair to say that the university has never been as fractured as it is at present in terms of a disconnect between the president’s office and the rest of the university,” he said, adding “the underlying issues that lead to the faculty vote of non-confidence in the president have neither been addressed nor resolved.”

For him, a unionized faculty “will ensure that at least some of the key aspects of the TWU workplace will be collectively bargained and legally protected.”

In response to a request for comment, the university’s administration shared a statement that said, in part, that it “respects the democratic process and the decision of the Labour Relations Board, and we commit to working together with all faculty to advance a healthy and productive working relationship.”

Closer to home, sources said there have been no serious discussions about unionizing at Manitoba’s three Christian colleges and universities — Providence University College, Booth University College and Canadian Mennonite University.

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