Blog

By Greg Nepean, VP Part-Time Instructors at MSVU

Thank you to the Executive for trusting me to attend the forum, there were great conversations,  and attendance did help me get grounded for bargaining.  

Re-Cap-Day 1 (March.21, 2025)

• Strategic Lessons on Organizing for Bargaining (1st panelist)
  • University of Ottawa’s Faculty Association, in their latest round of bargaining,  sought parity in workload, minimum staffing levels and conversions from part  time to full time for “replacement” (contract) profs with 7 years of services.
  • How they got this, member-based organizing, they had the name of every member  on a board on the wall of their office with a dot added for every activity the  member participated in. Lowest engagement was from Engineering. They also got  training on how to approach people for participation. 72% participation on an  integrity petition, 81% strike vote. 
  • Greg’s participation: Went to the mic to encourage associations to carefully  consider the needs of their part time faculty; not everyone wants conversions,  many of our member want higher pay and better working conditions. Going full  time helps those members that can but still leaves the rest of the members with  precarious working conditions and low pay.

• Strategic Lessons on Organizing for Bargaining (2nd panelist) 
  • McGill University facing a hostile Employer who attempted decertification.  Required different set of organizing techniques.

• Breakout Groups: Building a Bargaining Mandate.  
  • In this session we discussed ways to bring members concerns together in creating  a bargaining package. 
  • We also completed the “Message Box Exercise” in which we developed responses  for “Us on Us”, “Them on Us”, “Us on Them”, “Them on Them”. This helps us  shape our communication strategy, both positive (what we can gain by collective  action) and negative (to combat any derisive messages the Employer may put  out).

• Cross Country Check-Up

Report on “Collective Bargaining and Organizing Forum”-CAUT.March.21-22, 2025

• • I missed this part of the day and the debrief to breakout groups, plus lunch so I  could attend online the MSVU Negotiating Committee meeting.
• They Hired a Lawyer”
  • This was the best part of the day and really the most relevant for me due to how I  observed the impact of the MSVU BoG bringing in a lawyer during the MSVU  Faculty Association strike in 2024.
  • Presenter, David Wallridge, Pink/Larkin.  Debriefed his experience on the role of lawyers in negotiating.
  • Lawyers are bound by a code of conduct to advocate for their client strongly, when used as chief negotiator, this means an intent by the Employer to “play hardball” with the Union.
  • Urged us to remember that the lawyer is acting on client’s instructions and  instead of focusing on lawyer, focus on the person/group who gave the lawyer their instructions. Example (discussed at the mic): At MSVU, the  Chair of BoG insisted on hiring the lawyer and the Labour Relations Subcommittee gave the marching orders.
  • Examples of some instructions given to lawyers as chief negotiator Delay  control and timing, they want to control timing and do not care about renewing a CA as the old one already stays in place.
  • Indicated the importance of FOIPOP.
  • Reminded us that FA’s have better knowledge of the occupational field, of  the organization and how our collective agreements work. Knowledge imbalance in our favour.
  • Advice: have clear strike issues, differentiate what to have, wish to have.  Massive language proposals make it easy to delay (irony as we at the Mount have a lot of language changes-to protect our members).

Re-Cap-Day 2 (March.22, 2025) 

• Panel Presentation on “Financial Retrenchment”. 1st panelist discussed the impact of the  international student enrolment cap on Cape Breton University. 

Report on “Collective Bargaining and Organizing Forum”-CAUT.March.21-22, 2025

• • CBU has had an enrolment up and down situation with international students. The  Saudi Arabia cohort raised enrolments from 3000 in 2010 to approximately 5000  by 2015. The end of this cohort (due to changes in visas by Saudi Arabia  government) caused declines in enrolment. Focusing on international students  since 2020 led to an increase to almost 9000 students, most from India (the CBU  administration learned nothing from the previous lesson on over-relying on one  country to source international students).
  • The government restrictions on international students have resulted in CBU  enrolment declining, a $20 million loss of revenue and 30% across the board  cutbacks. Results: reductions in academic staffing, closure of downtown campus,  potential sabbatical deferment. Continuing to build large expensive buildings, no  cuts to program as academic staff as expected to do “more with less”.
  • Corporate governance model has led to lack of accountability and transparency  (same criticism I have had of the MSVU Board of Governors for the last 12  months).
• Panel Presentation on “Financial Retrenchment”. 2nd panelist discussed the impact of  international student enrolment cap on Lakehead University.
  • Lakehead is geographically isolated with Winnipeg as its closest city. Life for  international students is very different in this context, so is the impact of losing  international students (i.e. hard to draw people from Southern Ontario).
  • Despite solid enrolment, the decline in international students caused a $500000  deficit.
  • Previous Board of Governors practices (combined with previous provincial  government interference) resulted in a large, deferred maintenance bill, structural  deficits and a “mortgage” (institutional debt to repay to provincial government). g. Focus on “efficiencies” rather than cutbacks.
  • Forcing faculty to “self-assess” (i.e. justify their existence).
  • Criteria based review (enrolment, alignment with “labour market needs”).  Problematic as who knows needs for future, I suspect this is more training  employer’s workers for them to save money plus pump out qualified, but cheap  labour for business.

Report on “Collective Bargaining and Organizing Forum”-CAUT.March.21-22, 2025 

• Impact on faculty has been program cuts, increased workload, infringement on  academic freedom and lack of transparency. 
• Lakehead Faculty Association advocating for no program cuts or loss of faculty  jobs, drive to improve faculty control through Senate, priority for academic  quality and to monitor “mission creep”. 

Greg’s participation: I did go “to the mic” to make a comment, which was, to the effect, we  needed to decouple the work of the University from enrolment. We are all chasing the same  dwindling pool of students, the same shrinking research grant dollars, the overly in demand  corporate sponsorship/donations. Instead of growing and retrenching when that fails, what if we purposedly “sized low”?  

Example mentioned: If the Mount went from 4700 to 4000 students, and restructured the  priorities of the institution to provide quality education to fewer students, what would this look  like? How would the institution be different?

• Breakout Groups: Building Your Strategy at the Table
  • Great Northern University is on strike for three weeks. Strong strike, first burst of  participation strong but fading. Salary and most major issues are settled, but  remote work for librarians plus workload issues for library, faculty are  outstanding but not seen as important as what has been settled.]
  • There are four issues outstanding and the breakout groups had to decide what was  acceptable to settle and what we would remain on strike for.
  • Copies are available, feel free to ask me.
• Breakout Groups: Building a Bargaining Mandate 
  • Completed a 5-step exercise on how to build support for bargaining proposals  (establish a plan/timeline, consult with members, identity our issues, research,  develop/approve the bargaining mandate. 
  • We applied these steps to a fictional (but based on real life) scenario involved the  “Great Northern University” who is micro-managing librarians, resisting  conversion of part to full time, crying poor despite a surplus, forcing members to  go on-campus to do more of their work.  
  • Copies are available, feel free to ask me.

Report on “Collective Bargaining and Organizing Forum”-CAUT.March.21-22, 2025 

• Panel: Using Collective Agreements to Fight Against Attacks on EDI 
  • 1st panelist discussed how Dalhousie University is old school, with a belief that  normative practices solve EDI, i.e. Article 20.9. Workload for “designated  faculty” when service work for designated group exceeds a threshold, an overload  payment is made to compensate for extra service work (instead of course relief).  Despite this clause, there is still a lack of recognition of service work obligations  for designated groups and a lot “falls on the shoulders” of these members of the  association. Just say no isn’t an option. 
  • 2nd panelist discussed the relationship between transpersons and unions i. Positives: gender inclusive language, leaves for gender affirming care as  well as coverage for costs. 
    • Need to continue to advocate for availability of trans friendly health (faculty and students)
    • iii. 70% to 90% of transpersons experience discrimination and harassment in  their classrooms and institutions, as well as abuse from transphobes on social media in a highly political climate.
  • Unions are better, but the bar is low and more work is needed.

By Aiden Farrant

Although the institutional knowledge of how to effectively strike to support substantial bargaining demands remains strong in our Local, the memory of the exact feeling of the 2022 Dalhousie strike is fading almost as fast as the print on the t-shirts that picketers wore. CUPE 3912’s executive has transformed since then, and the Dalhousie unit in particular has seen waves of Officers and Negotiators come and go, each adding unique experience and perspectives to the proposed collective agreement currently up for negotiation.

However, those of us who were key in organizing the strike and negotiating back in the time of masking, rapidly adapting course content to online formats, and the cycle of lockdowns and re-openings, have had to rapidly reconcile our sentiments towards the mechanism striking  under the CUPE National banner. We’ve had to contrast our feelings of inadequate support and abandonment with the vitality and optimism of the new blood and activism-focused direction of Local President Lauren McKenzie. The air is electric with hope and willingness, rather than bitter resolve, and I thought the moment well suited to a) remind the Officer corps and Membership of the conflicts of 2022 so the same mistakes aren’t repeated, and b) to offer a wholehearted endorsement for a leadership change (and choice candidate) for CUPE Nova Scotia President that will (hopefully) improve the quality of support we receive.

CUPE 3912 is not a ‘typical’ labour union and never has been. We’ve always been one of the most outspoken and cutting-edge Locals, requiring National to adapt its policies to our needs lest they be circumvented (occasionally with prejudice). For example, the National Strike Fund regulations require that a picketer or strike volunteer picket for 5 days of 4 hours/day to be eligible for strike pay. As a Local predominantly composed of TAs who work 4-8 hours a week, we demanded accommodation to offer partial strike pay and to relax the number of days requirement so that Members could picket as much as they could (up to the maximum of 20 paid strike hours). We also had to adapt to our Employer’s policy of hiring Members working remotely, developing ‘virtual picketing’ roles to accommodate those of us out of province or out of country. In all its wisdom and for all the Locals it represents, CUPE National simply hadn’t needed to develop accommodating regulations (and therefore support materials and knowledge) for these circumstances. 

The Local and its Strike Committee also faced unique challenges with little to no support from any echelon of the CUPE power structure. Myself and the Finance Sub-Committee had to develop a payroll system from scratch in three days to accommodate 500 picketers while also incorporating the mandatory paper forms to access National Strike Fund resources. The Communications Sub-Committee and Social Media Team had to develop a web and virtual campaign with no support whatsoever, requiring endless meetings to approve a single instagram post. When support from National did materialize, in the form of a communications specialist parachuted in from our brethren at CUPE Ontario, we simply received a “keep doing what you’re doing” response and praise such as “you could write the textbook for other Locals”. During a rapidly evolving strike campaign, where the Employer’s PR machine seemed overwhelming and Employer-side bargaining updates were being sent to students and alumni before our own Chief Negotiator, tangible support and experience would have been more beneficial than kind words.

Not all the blame is to be applied to CUPE NS and CUPE National, the Local at the time was mired with internal struggle and ineffectiveness. Breakdowns in communication over lack of mutual respect (to put it mildly) hindered any material or experience support. The general lack of education on the part of the Executive and Strike Committee over how to access funding support (including if it was even available) and how to document expenditures meant every expense had to be meticulously approved by multiple organizational layers, extensively justified/rationalized, and demanded by the membership on the picket lines. Something as simple as converting a solidarity donation to hot drinks on a cold rainy day took nearly as many man-hours as the sum total of those picketed before everyone went home to warm up. In the end, the Local somehow made money on the strike, through properly leveraging National Strike Avert and Strike Support funds coupled with resounding solidarity support from other Locals/Units/Unions. It certainly didn’t feel like it when myself and my colleagues bookkeeping the affair had to make a powerpoint presentation on why high-visibility vests were a reasonable expense for picketers intending to block traffic, or why buying a 20$ software license to help us print cheques was more economical than the estimated 6 hours a week writing names and amounts out longhand.

The grinding machine that is CUPE is slowly acknowledging the realities of a changing workforce and adapting to the needs of its members in the post-secondary academia sector. The wave of CUPE Locals and other unions striking at Canadian universities rolled westward from our small but important action at Dalhousie, and continues to precipitate major labour gains, new strike policies, and forms of support. However, knowledge of how to overcome these barriers and the willingness to adopt a “beg forgiveness, not permission” mentality needs to persist if successful job action is to occur at Local 3912 again. Expectations of support and experience need to be clearly articulated, and those expectations should be met (or modified based on new knowledge gained from collaboration with CUPE NS and CUPE National). 

One avenue to ensure that communication remains open and CUPE 3912’s voice is heard is through advocacy for a candidate of choice for CUPE NS President. The Executive and the Membership have both moved to endorse CUPE 3912 member Christine Saulnier for the position. With Christine as President, we in the post-secondary academic sector stand to benefit from a National Executive Board member who understands the unique needs and unconventional strike action a Local such as ours must take to ensure fair wages and improved working conditions. The membership of Local 3912 need to support her as best we can, including by sending our full permitted slate of delegates at the upcoming CUPE NS Convention (where CUPE NS elections occur) and by reaching out to our CUPE brethren of other locals to showcase Christine’s unique skill set and excellent experience for the Presidential role.

We must not repeat the mistakes of 2022, instead we must strive to be better! We have shown that even at our most disorganized, this Local can strike effectively and stand firm until substantial gains are made. Imagine what gains we can make if we are fully prepared and have the backing of our endorsed Executives!

Aiden Farrant is CUPE 3912’s Recording Secretary and is a PhD Candidate in Chemistry in the Zwanziger Lab at Dalhousie University. He TA’d in the first year chemistry labs and was part of the 2022 Strike Committee. Aiden has served in various committee and executive roles within our local. 

By Hailie Tattrie,
PhD Candidate,
Part-time Instructor
Senior Writing Centre Assistant,
Justice for Workers Member
(she/her)

Originally published in Spring Magazine.

I have been teaching at Saint Mary’s University as a part-time instructor for nearly a year and a half now. Despite this part-time status, my students never seem to notice that I am a contract worker. Why would they? I fulfill the same teaching duties as tenured professors who have been teaching for years. Although we part-timers put just as much work in as our tenured colleagues, we certainly are not treated as such. We are contract workers—it is not uncommon for us to find out we have secured a teaching contract a few days before the course actually starts. This work is incredibly precarious, the pay isn’t great, there are no benefits, and I don’t even get an office.

So, why are we doing it then? Because we love teaching. We love our students. We appreciate what little money we do get paid, and we hope that one day we will join the upper echelons of tenure-track professors. Until then, we deal with our meagre pay and continue to do our best for our students.

Despite our commitment (and our cheap labour), Saint Mary’s University is planning to cut 56% of part-time job offerings for the 2025-26 academic year—fifty-six percent. Art courses taught by part-timers like me will drop from 140 to about 63, resulting in about 40 part-timers losing work. I personally have yet to hear back on if I will have any courses to teach this fall.

This does not just harm me and my colleagues, but it hurts our students too. This means fewer class options for them, with some students already starting to fret over how they will graduate in time since there will be such a drastic cut in course offerings.

In addition to these cuts to part-time teaching positions and courses, we are seeing enrollment and revenue cuts, too. SMU talks about revenue and wanting programs to thrive, but continues to cut courses. Furthermore, Saint Mary’s loves to boast about its Arts and Humanities educational offerings. The University states that it “strives to cultivate an enduring spirit of inquiry, innovation, and creativity, fostering impactful research, inspired teaching, and life-long learning,” but these cuts beg to differ.

There was no warning for us part-timers or our students either; the only reason we became aware of these cuts is thanks to our union VP and a few departmental chairs.

Why the cuts?

So what is causing these cuts? Well, there are several causes. The first being the limitations to enrolling international students. There has been a 10% reduction in study permits from last year, and universities are feeling the crunch. According to the Toronto Star, the drop in permits from 2023 to now has been a whopping 45 percent. According to the Federal Government, these caps are meant to “ease the strain on housing, healthcare and other services”. However, this is just another scapegoating tactic that alleviates the government from taking responsibility and taking meaningful actions to help the housing and healthcare crises. Utilizing international students as scapegoats is not a new tactic; immigrants have been scapegoats for government failings for decades, as Miller (2023) mentions:

“Immigrants have always been blamed for the housing crisis. Look back 100 years and people were against building boarding houses because they were scared of foreigners moving in and endangering their families. Nowadays, politicians are blaming foreign investors for housing shortages, too. I’m very impatient about people pointing fingers at immigrants for the housing crisis, because it has very little to do with immigration and a lot to do with government policy.”

Bill 12

The Minister of Advanced Education, Brendan Maguire, has introduced Bill No. 12 known as “An Act Respecting Advanced Education and Research”. As the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) notes, this bill would violate university autonomy by allowing Minister Maguire to withhold grants from universities if “a university does not satisfactorily show how it is meeting the government’s social and economic priorities”. This is a threat to academic freedom and puts a muzzle on Nova Scotian universities and their faculty.

Although we have yet to see the effects of Bill 12, it does create a context for preemptive action. It could lead to further cuts down the road and increased restrictions on academic freedoms.

This reminds me of the recent instance in the United States where Trump has put a pause on educational funding for the state of Maine due to the fact that the governor of Maine continues to support the state’s anti-discrimination law that “allows transgender athletes to participate in girls’ and women’s sports”. Despite threats from Trump that he would withdraw funding, the Governor of Maine, Janet Mills, did not back down. Since Mills stood up for trans rights, her state lost educational funding. Here in Nova Scotia, universities could lose funding if they and their faculty do not meet the Houston government’s ‘social and economic priorities.’ Strikingly similar if you ask me.

Thankfully, faculty unions are pushing back against this bill, but despite this pushback, it has since passed as of March 26th, 2025.

And so the result is what we are now seeing: a cut in programs, specifically the Arts and Humanities, which are particularly under attack given the current geo-political climate. Removing these teaching opportunities is harmful to precarious part-timers like myself and our students who continue to pay the highest tuition fees in the country, yet their education is being stripped back. This attack on part-timers is an attack on the entire institution of education; it is an attack on workers’ rights and an attack on students.

Trump has stated that “Professors are the enemy” and this fascist rhetoric could be slowly creeping into Canadian discourse and government action. It may start with cuts to the Arts, but where does it end? What institutions are next? Where do we draw the line?

There are alternative cost-saving measures too—as Dr. Syed Adnan Hussain, the chair of the Religious Studies department at SMU, states in a recent CBC interview that “if there’s a revitalization conversation going on in the government, revitalization should really be about cutting administrative bloat,  which almost every study about the academic sector will say is the real problem in our universities.”

It’s time that we make our voices heard and tell Saint Mary’s that we will not stand for these cuts. It’s time to cut administrative bloat, not part-timers. It’s time to stop treating universities like a business and instead like a space for learning.

Hailie Tattrie (she/her) is a sociologist, a first-gen university student, a part-time instructor, and a PhD candidate in the educational studies department at MSVU. Hailie is actively involved in Justice for Workers Nova Scotia. She lives in Kjipuktuk with her partner and two cats.

By JP Bourgeois

It should not come as a surprise that all our university employers are cutting back on part-time lecturers given their financial pressures. While the reduction in classes in the fall and winter term has been noted, this is likely to accelerate over the course of the summer and next fall. The fall 2025-26 schedules are already out for some departments, and the cuts are quite noticeable. 

While it is not pleasant to know your course load may be reduced, proper planning is important. We invite you to discuss these with your department chair. 

It’s important to know that in the eventuality of a complete loss of course load, you may be eligible for employment insurance (EI) benefits. Applying for employment insurance (EI) can sometimes be tricky for part time faculty, and that is why we are offering this guide to help. 

Employment insurance is a federal program which provides benefits (money) to someone when there is a shortage of work (there are other reasons, but this is the main reason for a part-time lecturer to apply). Benefits vary in value, based on how much income and how many hours you worked in the past. 

What will you need to apply:

• Records of employments (ROE)

A Record of Employment is a document that states how much you have earned over a period of time and how many hours you have worked (insurable). These are to be requested from the universities as soon as possible. Do so by contacting Human resources at each university:

• Dalhousie University: roe@dal.ca
• Mount Saint Vincent:  melissa.mackay@msvu.ca 
• NSCAD: humanresources@nscad.ca
• Saint Mary’s University: payroll@smu.ca

These documents will be sent directly to Service Canada by the University (even if you don’t have your account setup in step 2)

• Setup your Service Canada Account 

Visit this page to set up your Service Canada account. Follow the directions to complete your profile. Note that for most applicants, you will receive a PIN code in the mail to then gain full access to your account. This can take time to receive and we would encourage you to set up the account before your contract expires. This would allow you to apply for EI immediately after the end of your contract. Waiting longer than two weeks can result in loss of benefits. 

• Apply for regular benefits

While there are many types of benefits, part-time faculty who have lost their course load would apply for regular benefits. Note that there is a category of benefits for schoolteachers which does not apply to university work. 

Entering hours and wages from contract work is sometimes tricky. You will likely need to review your contract or contact HR at your institution to find out how many hours per week and at what hourly rate the institution renumerates the position. This varies considerably between universities, and is indicated on your ROE. Making a mistake is not fatal: if you do, contact Service Canada’s EI department  and they will correct the mistake. Unlike other Canadian departments, the waiting time on the phone is usually very short. 

• By-weekly reporting

After applying and getting approved, you will need to be actively looking for work and able to work to continue receiving benefits. 

• Sign up to job pools (service Canada provides this)
• Sign up for CUPE 3912 job notifications  https://cupe3912.ca/jobs/listserve-instructions/ 
• Keep track of your applications of work. Service Canada 
• Complete your by-weekly reporting. 

You are expected to be available and looking for suitable work. Click here to learn more about reasonable job search and suitable employment. Reasonable job search efforts involve activities like networking and updating your resume in addition to applying for jobs. Keep track of this activity as Service Canada can audit you for it for up to the next six years! 

You will need to report any other money you  receive while on EI; it is likely that it will be deducted from your EI benefits.

FAQ

I had a teaching contract from Jan- April at Dal, then 2 summer contracts from May to June at the Mount. I also received an offer of contract for September at Dalhousie. Can I apply for EI? 

You most certainly can. Applying between contracts is completely acceptable. Simply ask for your ROE the date your contract ends and complete the EI application.

By Isabel Fearon, Erica Fischer and Karen Harper

On Friday February 14th, we attended as guests the SMU Senate meeting. After two hours of observing the Senate discuss several motions from committees and sometimes revise them to get things passed in a timely manner, we were invited to sit at the table so that we could respond to general questions from Senators when the bylaws committee introduced a motion to allow part-time instructors to vote and run for Senate, subject to some seniority qualifications.

It’s important to note that while a petition on this matter was recently circulated and signed by more than 100 members of the university community, the discussion at Senate was prompted by a motion from the Senate’s own Bylaws Committee and not from the motion we had sent. Their motion included not only an amendment to the definition of Academic Staff to include Part-Time Faculty, as ours did, but also several amendments to include language about the eligibility requirements for PT Faculty to be included in the electorate list.

Under the Saint Mary’s University Act (1970), part-time faculty should be eligible to run for Senate.  “Academic staff” means “the persons employed by the University to carry out teaching or research responsibilities or both” other than students. The current bylaws wrongfully exclude part-time faculty from running for Senate. While the proposed qualifications on part-time faculty Senate participation are not consistent with the Act, the amendment would have been a big step forward. We commend all the work the Bylaws Committee put into preparing this motion. If it had been carried, these amendments would have allowed PT Faculty to participate in Senate elections this coming March.

Unfortunately, even though some Senators appeared open to discussion, most spoke about being in favour of including PT Faculty on Senate but then proceeded to explain how they were not. They expressed their concerns without going through the proposed amendments to see if their concerns were addressed or without indicating specifically how the wording didn’t address their concerns. The apparent desire of a few Senators to shut the discussion down as quickly as possible stating that this is a matter for bargaining when in fact is simply a matter of abiding by the St. Mary’s University Act, combined with the short amount of time allotted for consideration of the motion (which it should be said was extended for an additional 15 minutes), resulted in the motion being relegated back to committee without benefit of feedback or timeline.

Dr. Kocum, who was a vocal advocate, resigned her seat in protest. The reason of her resignation in her own words and with her authorization to publish it follows:

“It was frustrating to witness the deeply patronizing and exclusionary treatment of part-timers. What was most disheartening was the unwillingness of most senators to bend even slightly—refusing to postpone elections by one month, which is entirely in our purview—to allow for a real discussion about inclusion of part-timers this year. Inclusion requires those in power to make space, not just to say the words “I support part-timers being part of Senate” while actively kicking the issue down the road; those on the losing end of power dynamics are all too accustomed to this pattern. Interesting that several senators mentioned being concerned for the unpaid time of part-timers who would serve on Senate, yet they were perfectly willing to have them waste another year advocating. The math just doesn’t math.

Instead of engaging thoughtfully and addressing specific concerns collaboratively, several senators maintained the appearance of inclusion while actively deferring action. This was my final straw, and the reason I resigned. The issue here isn’t about my personal reaction, however—it’s about the broader problem of exclusion where logic, ingenuity, and part-timers’ voices were immaterial against toxic attitudes and the need to maintain the status quo. This toxicity is not unique to part-timers; it generalizes to many areas of progress where those with less power advocate for change. We do have an inclusion policy at SMU, as inclusion is essential for change. It means valuing diverse voices and integrating them into decision-making. The opposite is marginalization, where people look out for their own concerns while sidelining those of others with less power. My emotions signalled the toxicity of this fundamentally exclusionary context. Unlike a canary, though, I had the freedom to bust out to venture where my voice may actually have traction, and I am free to keep on singing.

It’s been 5 years collectively on the Board and Senate and honestly, that display Friday was it.”

This is another step on a long path for us. Bringing this issue to the Senate floor is a win in itself. Already we are trying to determine next steps. The fight is not over, it’s just unfortunate that it is a fight.

By JP Bourgeois, CUPE 3912 Secretary-Treasurer

CAUT Defence Fund

I participated in the CAUT Defence Fund Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Montreal October 18-19, 2024. I did so as a participating member, but also a director of the fund. The difference is that a member defends the interest of the local and the director defends the interest of the fund itself. 

What is this fund? 

The CAUT Defence Fund allows paying organizations (which we are) a nominal benefit when we go on strike. That means, if CUPE 3912, would ever go on strike again, the defence fund would pay the local daily benefits until the strike would end. 

How much will be discussed in a separate update as it is dependent on a few factors, but it is substantial, and why the executive last year voted to become participating members of the fund. 

What is interesting with the CAUT fund is that the payments while on strike are done to the local, and not the members. This would allow the local substantially more flexibility in how the funds are used. 

How it went

It was quite interesting to talk to other unions about the problems they faced, particularly with locals in the Maritimes. The impact of hiring freeze, immigration caps were notable topics. 

The CAUT Defence Fund AGM is very specific in scope, which means it’s a 7-hour meeting about bylaw changes and elections to different committees

Joining the Investment committee

It is my pleasure to announce that I was voted on the investment committee of the defence fund for a 1-year term. I will help bring investment proposals to  and do assessments for the defence fund directors. This is great news for the local as it will help us bring forth what will be an investment fund of our own to support the local. 

The next CAUT defence fund AGM will be held in Ottawa in October 2025. 

Applying for funds

We can apply, and are encouraged to apply early to the defence fund. It should be done before the strike vote. 

CUPE money and cents conferences

The week after the CAUT defence fund conference, I was also at the CUPE money and cents conferences right here in Halifax along with the 3 trustees of the Local: Kim Robinson, James Kho, and Wenceslao Amezcua! We participated in various workshops related to finance, which were quite interesting on their own, but also gave us the opportunity to see what other problems unions faced based on their size and situations. 

What was the conference about?

The conference was focused on the finances of locals and was hosted by the CUPE National treasurer, the provincial treasurers, and specialists in the field. 

Topics included a workshop on budgeting, bylaws that touch specifically on finances, accessing the CUPE National fund for cost share events, and general financial literacy. 

What I learned: Union structure and dues

I was most struck by the fact that CUPE 3912 is on the larger size for locals, but that we do not share in the same problems that larger unions have. Notably, we have a very large turnaround in membership, which happens when teaching assistants and part-time faculty find full-time employment. This situation is one that the other locals did not have, meaning that we need to develop a yearly onboarding process. Note that this initiative would have a financial impact on the local, but it could lead to us having more engaged and educated members.

We also learned about the types of dues that local can collect. Our local collects 1.9% of normal wages and pays a bit more than 1% to CUPE National and CUPE NS. This is on the low side of dues collection. This limits our ability to onboard members and defend our members and the local’s interest. 

Remedies could be:

• Increasing dues. Since the amount CUPE National and CUPE NS take is a fixed percentage, any increase would go directly to the local. Each 0.1 percentage point would most likely generate 20,000$ more in dues a year. 
• Levy an initiation fee. This could vary between 1 or 10$ for new members. 
• Levy a specific purpose amount. This could be done to shore up our finances, or other initiatives. 

Given that our local spends almost 95% of its budget on fixed items (dues to organizations, membership fees, administrative cost and salaries) we are left with very little money for other initiatives. 

Recommendation: Do a ‘what if’ exercise to discuss what we would like to do (our dream union) and then work backwards to find the appropriate union due structure to levy. This way we would have a plan and a justification for increasing dues. 

What I learned: Finance Policy

While dues are maybe a more controversial topic, this one should not be. Our local NEEDS a finance policy. Given its size and high turnover, a finance policy would help guide what can and cannot be done with finances at our local level. 

It is a document which is supportive to the local’s bylaws and provides substantially more information to members, and executive. Without being afraid that the financial knowledge gets lost as treasurer or executive changes roles or from change of elections. 

These are professionally prepared documents. 

As the local finds itself wanting to do more events, conferences, educational events, discussions with members, the finance policy will help guide and answer questions surrounding how funds are used. Expense cards, investments, per diems/out of pocket expenses, travel, and accounting practices are but a few topics that it covers. While maybe not an exciting topic, it is a topic that takes a lot of time at the local because we don’t have such a policy. 

Overall

While the CAUT Defence Fund AGM was interesting (and is a conference that we have no choice in attending), the CUPE Money and Cents conference really was the most helpful and gave me a lot of things to bring to the executive and members for more in depth discussions.

By Pouya Morshedi

The Union regularly supports members to be delegates to conferences. Members report back to the Union on what they learned. Pouya Morshedi was CUPE 3912’s delegate to the ANSUT Equity Conference in Fall 2024.

The meeting started at 9:45 A.M. with Dr. Stewart, the ANSUT president, giving a welcoming speech. It continued with Dr. Jones’s poetry reading. Then, Dr. Brigham provided a report on EDIA activities at different levels at NS universities. They did not mention our union specifically in this report. The recommendation for SMUFU is mentioned below. It may be helpful for our union as well.

“It would be great to have a compilation of union equity policies and any resources that 

unions can use to enhance and support the improvements on EDIA.”

Fabienne Cyrius, the co-chair of the CAUT Equity Committee, gave the keynote speech. She mentioned some useful practices in other universities and some suggestions regarding the EDIA at universities. I mentioned some of them below.

Already have been done in some other universities:

• Course release for members undertaking services tied to identities.
• One university found the role of race and gender of instructors in the way students evaluate them. They decided not to consider these evaluations in instructors’ formal evaluation.
• Plans and protection for part-time faculties to become permanent faculties.

Suggestions:

• Mandatory EDIA training for “ALL” at universities.
• The training could be offered by a committee that includes members from the union and university or only union members.
• A more individual strategy for workplace accommodation. 

The panel on Effective Equity Initiative At NS Universities was the next part of the conference. In this part, participants started asking questions and bringing up the issues. I mentioned the precarity of part-time instructors who may stay in this precarity for years without a path to become a permanent faculty member. I also added the language and rules around permanent residency and its relationship to getting a permanent job in Canadian universities, which put more racialized scholars in precarious job situations. It was supported by some other part-time and full-time instructors in the meeting. I believe that we need more presence of part-time instructors at such meetings. However, the precarity and financial situation of part-time instructors make this presence harder. Some of the points brought up by panellists are mentioned below.

• Adding a non-voting equity representative to the hiring committee.
• Having the Equity language in the bargaining process. 
• A participant suggested using the term “Equity-denied” instead of “Equity-Deserving.”

Dr. Patti Doyle Bedwell was the next speaker to discuss the Erasures: The Colonialization of Indigenous Identity. She mentioned the issues she faced and how some people in power consider “Diversity means Unqualified” in their discussions and decision-making. She also discussed the issue of pretentious people in academia who try to take advantage of Indigenous positions and accommodation. 

Dr. Kubota was the last speaker who discussed the intersectional injustice of race and language. She brought up the hidden forms of prejudice and discrimination that are based on the linguistic profiling. Dr. Kubota addressed language equity and the necessity of considering it in the EDIA discussions.

The conferences ended with a group activity about what was missed and what could be the next step for equity at NS universities. The conference ended at 4 P.M.

Pouya Morshedi (Ph.D. Cand.). has been teaching in the Sociology Department at Saint Mary’s University since Fall 2020. He’s a co-organizer of The Qualitative Analysis Conference; Chair of The Anti-Racism, Representation, and Diversity Committee at the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction (SSSI); and Co-founder of Avalon Research Society He is a qualitative researcher specializing in the sociology of space and place, the sociology of cinema, and the sociology of revolution. He recently published a peer-reviewed article: Home in Cinema and Women at Home: A Comparative Study of Pre- and Post-Revolutionary Iranian Cinema from 1969 to 1999

In November I attended the 97th Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) Council Meeting in Ottawa. The reason why I particularly wanted to participate in this Council was that I am submitting my nomination to be Chair of the Contract Academic Staff (CAS) committee. The election will be at the next Council this spring. My participation in the November Council meant that I learned more about the current issues at CAUT and that I could talk to delegates that would be likely to be voting at the election. I accomplished this through numerous conversations with delegates I already knew and by meeting first-time delegates.

It was fortunate that I was at Council because it was there that I found out about the Senate by-election at Saint Mary’s University (SMU; see the Senate petition and update). Cathy Conrad, President of the Saint Mary’s University Faculty Union (SMUFU; which represents full-time academics and librarians), helped me navigate through the nomination process and various staff at CAUT provided advice for me and Erica (CUPE 3912’s SMU Vice President for Part-Time Faculty, who I was emailing constantly throughout Council) about our next steps for securing our right to vote and run for SMU Senate.

As with conferences much discussion and socializing goes on outside of the actual meeting, but there were also important agenda items as part of the meeting itself. The most interesting items were the two emergency resolutions from member associations. The first of these, from the Mount Saint Vincent University Faculty Association (MSVUFA) was a motion to support the association to get the employer to sign their collective agreement, which they had been neglecting to do for months; simply putting this on the Council agenda worked since the employer signed later that day! The other motion about the working definition of anti-semitism and sanctions of the State of Israel was more controversial and time-consuming. Most of the disagreement related to procedure – does this count as an emergency motion? Can we approve this if we have done so already? Should we do something now or wait? There were multiple amendments and votes resulting in an amended motion being accepted if I remember correctly. The part I really disliked was that one delegate on each side appeared to harass the Chair of Council while he was doing a great job in very challenging circumstances.

Other highlights include a report on a survey of public attitudes of post-secondary education in Canada, in which Brad Lavigne from Counsel Public Affairs (one of Canada’s leading public affairs agencies) summarized the results as saying the Conservative Party will win the next federal election but that most Canadians still value universities and its instructors. There were the usual reports and policy statements including one on distance education. The most important item for us was squeezed in at the last minute just before adjournment. A motion to change the procedure for selecting CAS committee members was approved. Before the committee was composed of the 6 largest CAS member associations plus one each representing middle and small associations. We lost out because of this when we were dropped from the committee years ago when we moved from 6th largest to 7th largest. I am only on the committee now after submitting my nomination three years ago to represent medium-sized associations. But now the rules have changed to be similar to other CAUT committees that are composed of 8 CAS members, regardless of the size of the association. 

CAUT also presented its federal election campaign called Unlock Education and mentioned their January lobbying efforts. CAUT encouraged and provided training for members to meet with their MPs in January. Erica and I participated in the training and met with Member of Parliament Lena Diab a few weeks ago. Our meeting was very successful. We heard about how Lena understands the importance of post-secondary education and how she blames the conservatives for resisting efforts of the Science and Research Committee to achieve things like increasing funding for students and researchers. Our key accomplishment was establishing a connection with one of our MPs and sharing stories about part-time instructors.

I am submitting my nomination to continue to be part of the CAS committee and to be its chair. Stay tuned to find out the results of the election in early May. I believe that it is important that CUPE 3912 and Atlantic Canada have a strong representation in CAUT.

In solidarity,

Karen Harper

Karen Harper continues her dedication and commitment to helping improve working conditions for CUPE 3912 members and contract academic staff across Canada through her roles as a member of the CAUT CAS committee (Canadian Association of University Teachers Contract Academic Staff committee). She also recently joined the committee for COCAL (Coalition of Contract Academic Labour). Her experience with CAUT is extensive, having attended numerous Council meetings, forums (for presidents, bargaining officers), webinars and workshops. Within CUPE 3912, Karen was Communications Officer from 2016 to 2019 followed by President from 2019 to 2022. She currently still helps CUPE 3912, particularly with mobilization for SMU. Karen has taught in Biology at the Mount; in Biology, Management and Environmental Science at Dal; and in Applied Science, Biology, Geography and Environmental Science at SMU. Her main motivation for being involved in the labour movement is to try to get more paid research opportunities for CAS – see her article ‘Working part time in name only’  in the CAUT March 2018 Bulletin. Her research focuses on vegetation at forest edges.

 

Karen Harper

Through my participation in events held by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), I have learned a bit about ‘indigenizing the academy’. CAUT (and others) advocate indigenization through ‘a commitment to undertake proactive measures aimed at restoring, renewing, and regenerating Indigenous practices, languages, and knowledge’. They suggest that Aboriginal content and Indigenous knowledge should be incorporated in curricula but should not result in tokenism, distortion or cultural appropriation.

Although indigenizing the academy should be done at a scale of the entire university by providing appropriate resources, I have been wondering how I might be able to add Indigenous content in my own courses. Indigenization involves expanding the academy’s conceptions of knowledge to include Indigenous perspectives in transformative ways and part of this process is to spread Indigenous knowledge beyond its foundational area to other parts of the institutionI have asked myself: how can I as a non-Indigenous person lacking traditional knowledge teach any indigenous content?

A few years ago a couple of friends (including Lauren Mckenzie, CUPE 3912 President, who asked me to write this article) recommended the book Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The author is a plant ecologist, professor and environmental scientist, just like me, but she is Potawatomi, born in the United States. The book explains that the braid represents the weaving together of scientific knowledge, Indigenous ways of knowing, and stories. The author uses the three strands to present and discuss ecology and environmental science from these different perspectives. Since I teach in the Environmental Science program at Saint Mary’s University, I thought that this could be a way of including indigenous knowledge in my course.

As I told my students, my idea was to have the author teach us Indigenous knowledge from her perspective, and to have my role as the instructor to be to lead the discussion about her teachings. I assigned several appropriate chapters throughout the course including Skywoman falling, Sitting in a circle, Maple sugar moon, A mother’s work, Old-growth children and The teaching of grass. The book is available online through the SMU library with no restrictions, which made it easy to add to the course readings. 

The students and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the chapters, which read more like a novel than a textbook. I came up with questions that I think highlighted the different perspectives portrayed in the chapters and related them to the course material. We had some good discussions as well, particularly at the start of the course. I also included questions specifically on the assigned chapters in each test to make sure the book was an integral part of the course. One of the questions on the final exam (given to the students in advance) was to explain two environmental issues from the chapters we read from the three perspectives.

I should note that including this book as reading material was my own initiative. I did not go through any consultative process or attend any workshops. Perhaps I should have but it seemed to make sense to incorporate Braiding Sweetgrass into the course. This small step felt like I could make a small difference on my own without imposing on others. I think I made a slight impression on SMU students. I believe that my course was enriched by adding new perspectives. The few students I have talked to who actually read the book agreed.

In solidarity,

Karen Harper

Karen Harper continues her dedication and commitment to helping improve working conditions for CUPE 3912 members and contract academic staff across Canada through her roles as a member of the CAUT CAS committee (Canadian Association of University Teachers Contract Academic Staff committee). She also recently joined the committee for COCAL (Coalition of Contract Academic Labour). Her experience with CAUT is extensive, having attended numerous Council meetings, forums (for presidents, bargaining officers), webinars and workshops. Within CUPE 3912, Karen was Communications Officer from 2016 to 2019 followed by President from 2019 to 2022. She currently still helps CUPE 3912, particularly with mobilization for SMU. Karen has taught in Biology at the Mount; in Biology, Management and Environmental Science at Dal; and in Applied Science, Biology, Geography and Environmental Science at SMU. Her main motivation for being involved in the labour movement is to try to get more paid research opportunities for CAS – see her article ‘Working part time in name only’ in the CAUT March 2018 Bulletin. Her research focuses on vegetation at forest edges.