U of M edges closer to strike deadline

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This article was published 31/10/2021 (1465 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Unsure about what their courses will look like in the coming days, as a faculty strike deadline nears, students at the University of Manitoba are frustrated about the prospect of their instructors walking off the job amid continuous learning disruptions.

The union that represents more than 1,200 professors, instructors and academic librarians at Manitoba’s largest post-secondary institute recently set both a bargaining and strike deadline, for Oct. 31 and Nov. 2, respectively.

“Students are being held hostage and we really have no way to do anything about it,” said Erik Rogalka, a final-year student enrolled in U of M’s post-degree education program.

The faculty association, known as UMFA, has repeatedly cited the school’s low salaries — in part, a product of the Progressive Conservative government’s public sector wage mandates — for its ongoing challenges with retention and recruitment.

For weeks, academics have been calling on the province to stop interfering in collective bargaining and withdraw its most recent mandate. Meantime, the government claims it has a responsibility, as a steward of public funds, to provide guidelines for salary hikes.

For Rogalka, the ongoing mediation scenario is a familiar one. The 25-year-old was an undergraduate student in the fall of 2016 when professors went on strike for three weeks amid a bargaining deadlock. Last fall, he was adjusting to remote learning when UMFA held a strike vote, before an agreement was reached to provide staff with a one-time stipend to address their work throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I know the bargaining process can create tension and stress for many in our community; we all feel this,” wrote Michael Benarroch, U of M president, in a recent public bargaining update.

Benarroch said the university’s proposal recognizes its commitment to make salaries more competitive while providing stability for staff and students.

Moira Kennedy, a third-year native studies student, said she’s stressed out about a potential strike, but it was an easy choice for her to support faculty members’ demands — especially given her university had a surplus upwards of $94 million last year.

The 22-year-old is among the volunteers involved with Students Supporting UMFA, which has been organizing events and campaigns to promote education around the labour dispute. The group was founded on the premise that faculty working conditions are student learning conditions.

“We’re supportive of UMFA because we’ve seen the harmful effects of this labour dispute… We’ve seen the longer wait lists and less one-on-one time with professors,” said Kennedy, noting student learning suffers when talented professors leave U of M for better paying positions elsewhere.

Academic wages at the U of M are currently the lowest of all comparable English-speaking universities in Canada. The floor salary for a full professor at the University of Saskatchewan was $135,145 last year — nearly $30,000 more than the same position pay at the U of M.

“I have a lot at stake in this strike,” said Mads Meyer-Parr, a third-year sociology student, who is also a volunteer with Students Supporting UMFA. “I’m essentially going to see all of my classes freeze and I will be left to navigate that without any help from my profs.”

Meyer-Parr, 20, said it’s frustrating to feel so powerless in the situation, given the province is seemingly preventing a quick deal with a mandate.

In Rogalka’s view, no side is blameless in creating a stalemate that could affect students who are already experiencing high levels of anxiety as the pandemic wears on. Students are being unfairly used as bargaining chips, he said.

“The hope is they can get a deal done quickly and that we can get things back on track,” added Rogalka. “It’s just unfortunate that students have to deal with this, and it seems like it’s on a yearly basis now.”

Over the weekend, UMFA leadership called on the province’s next premier to cut ties with former leader Brian Pallister’s legacy of restricting wages during bargaining talks.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie