Blog

Lauren McKenzie 

Once again, the CUPE NS Women’s Conference on March 6 – 7 turned out to be one of my favorite union gatherings of the year. The event had fascinating speakers, fun activities and created opportunities for us women in the labour movement to connect. This conference is 

planned by the CUPE NS Women’s Committee and they take a holistic approach by making time for attendees to be inspired and to rest. The conference began with speeches from key CUPE NS and national staff and a video message from National Secretary Treasurer Candace Rennick – a favorite around here as she came to visit our MSVU and SMU strikes in the fall (with a big cheque for the local). We heard of a reading of the poem ‘Bread and Roses’ and got great gift bags to close the afternoon. That night was a reception with an amazing taco bar and drumming lesson – I had to miss this because of other responsibilities. 

The next day, the conference heard from speakers including 4 time Olympic kayaker and local, Karen Furneaux. She spoke about her incredible career as an athlete and then the turn her life took in 2023 when she was hospitalized and diagnosed with bi-polar II disorder. Karen talked about the ‘resilience framework’. I appreciated her perspective on how having routines helped her to heal and I could relate to that. When things get really stressful with the local, I lean into my routines – going for a walk, making a smoothie, calling a sister friend… 

She was so open and honest about her challenges and has written a book about her experiences. Holly and Jenna bought me a copy and Karen signed it: “To Lauren – you are the gold within” and I was so touched. Karen talked about how she had to tap into that winning spirit when she pulled up to every start line. 

I had a chance to connect with my incredible 3912 sisters and women from across our province who are incredible leaders, activists, care givers, mothers, friends, partners, workers and so so much more.

 Wenceslao Amezuca, MSVU Part-Time Faculty member

When I joined the Communications Committee, I did not know exactly what to expect. But very quickly it became a very positive experience for me. I met colleagues who really care about the union and the working conditions of part-time instructors. I’m not a strong activist in labour rights, but I care about issues that affect many of us, such as job security, low wages, and vulnerable working conditions. It felt good to work with people who share these concerns and are passionate about working in favour of all of us.

During the last year, our main work was to help prepare communication for our members. One of our important tasks was helping produce two newsletters that shared union news, updates, and information members should know about. We also had conversations about social media content, engagement strategies, and visual materials for communication. We discussed how to make our messages clearer and more accessible for members. Even small things, like the design of posters or infographics, can make a difference in how members receive information.

However, the biggest and most memorable moment of the year was the strikes in our Local. For me, it was an intense and unforgettable experience. There were also challenging and frustrating moments, but the process was extremely educational. I was learning by doing: writing updates, creating content, informing members, and helping share information during a very important moment for our union (not to mention the personal overexposure of being part of an ad campaign). I also had the opportunity to support the work of Katerina Allan, the very resilient MSVU Vice-President, and to see closely the leadership of our President, Lauren.

It was during the strike that I understood how important the Communications Committee can be. A strong and well-organized committee can help a lot in moments of crisis. It can prepare materials in advance, respond to unexpected situations, and reduce the stress that comes from not knowing what to do or who to contact for help.

For the future of the committee, I think it would be very useful to clearly define responsibilities. This can help avoid duplication of work and make communication more efficient. For example, it would help to know who is responsible for public communication, press releases, social media content, and who has the final word in approving what CUPE 3912 communicates publicly. Clear roles -or simply respect for the assigned roles– can help make the voice of our Local stronger, more organized, and more credible.

For me, being part of this committee has been a meaningful way to contribute to the union. When members are well informed, they feel more connected and more engaged. Good communication helps build the solidarity that we predicate among part-time instructors.

Of course, this past year, the committee could have been stronger. There were moments when we did not receive as much support as it needed (from inside and outside of the same committee). The challenges of the strike also moved different things, where the committee was not a priority. Even so, I believe we did our best to fulfill our mandate.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to be part of the committee and for everything I learned. I encourage other members to consider joining it. It is a meaningful way to support our union and to help keep our members informed, connected, and engaged.

Holly Morgan, Dalhousie Member

On March 6th and 7th, I attended the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour International Women’s Day Breakfast and the CUPE NS Women’s Conference. 

The breakfast, hosted in the NSGEU building in Burnside, was enjoyable and saw the distribution of the Sister and New Sister of the Year awards. The keynote speaker was a nurse who gave an inspiring talk about resilience and support in the face of her daughter’s cancer battle. She emphasized the importance of colleagues and supervisors who care about you as an individual rather than just a worker, and about how caring for her daughter impacted her approach to nursing and to union activism. 

The CUPE NS women’s conference took place in the afternoon, and the Friday sessions were primarily social. We received welcome messages from many senior CUPE representatives and were then invited to participate in a blanket tying session and to paint inspirational rocks and canvases. The evening event included African drumming and Tarot readings, and it was interesting to talk to CUPE members in healthcare and elementary education about the ongoing challenges in their fields. 

Saturday’s session began with coffee, and the highlight of the morning was an inspirational talk from Carol Murray, who survived a skydiving accident in 1997 and now works in corporate fundraising. She spoke at length about resilience and how strength comes from community, and she also focused extensively on workplace safety, a matter that may have prevented her accident. 

In the afternoon, we were joined by Olympian Karen Furneaux, who spoke about mental health, resilience, and recovery. Karen highlighted some of the qualities needed to overcome mental health challenges, particularly in light of ongoing strains within our healthcare system. She concluded her session by guiding us through some movement and stretching. 

These events serve as empowering reminders of the important roles women leaders can play in our unions, as well as of the importance or resilience in the face of adversity. They sought to empower union leaders in challenging times and fostered strong connections across CUPE and other local organizations.

Thank you for supporting my attendance!

El Hansen, Dalhousie TA

I had the opportunity to attend the CUPE Nova Scotia Women’s Conference this year. The experience was largely enjoyable, and I was able to converse with several fellow workers while enjoying some structured motivational speakers and educationals.

While I enjoyed the event, I overall found it lacking in political activism. Much of the conference focused on ways by which we as women might face adversary and continue to struggle despite that, which was well articulated, but the overall lack of politically oriented collective action stemming from this analysis gave me pause. 

In the agenda of the conference there was in fact no political action items specifically listed.

It was only because of a member from the floor who interrupted the proceedings to recommend the attendees sign a petition to the provincial government condemning the recent austerity budget cuts that political action was made an important facet of the conference. This I felt was a well-done element of our conference if a bit haphazard. But it was a shame that this was something that needed to be brought from the floor and not a core part of the conference’s political aims from the start.

This was especially true because the mood amongst the women in the room was one of justifiable anger and frustration at the provincial government and their recent attack on workers and our jobs as women. There was a recognition that something had to be done and the failure to utilize that righteous anger and channel it into political activism and education was a missed opportunity. 

I hope that the future women’s conference may continue to allow for inter-local fraternization but with a greater focus on militant union action. In doing so we will continue to build a mass movement of women workers and workers generally who might advance the progressive cause.

Dear Editor,

I write to you as a concerned member of CUPE 3912, the union representing NSCAD Teaching Assistants, Research Assistants and Individual Course Appointees currently fighting for fair wages at NSCAD (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design).

I am keenly aware that — given the current news cycle — any prospect of our comparatively small fight for living wages garnering significant coverage is an uphill battle. As a society, we are swamped daily by anxiety in local and global news. In the “grand scheme of things” (a phrase which seems to proffer more underlying structure than can be truthfully located in the world today) the demands of a few hundred per contract staff at an arts university understandably flies under the radar of most people struggling to make ends meet in their day-to-day lives.

Of course, there is the economy. Gas prices. War.

And… art?

We get it, we really do. But, hear us out: NSCAD has not given us a pay raise since 1984!

To put that into perspective:

The year is 1984.

Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called to Say I Love You” is playing on the radio, while Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ blares on the boombox. Bruce Springsteen is letting us know he was ‘Born in the U.S.A.’

At the cinema, we choose from ‘Ghostbusters’, ‘Gremlins’, and ‘Karate Kid’. Arnold Schwarzenegger tells us he’ll “be back”.

We lose Marvin Gaye and Truman Capote that year.

The very first Apple Macintosh computer is unveiled, its design resembling a typewriter. In a now infamous Super Bowl ad referencing Orwell’s famous dystopian novel, Apple declares “You will see why 1984, won’t be like ‘1984’”. Fair enough. But, for all of us fighting for fair wages at NSCAD, it turns out 2026 is an awful lot like 1984.

Our bank statements confirm it.

Yours truly,
A worker striking in the year 2026

Dear members,

As we close out an intense and historic year for CUPE 3912, I want to take a moment to thank you—for your courage, your solidarity, and your commitment to one another.

The past year demanded a great deal from all of us. Across campuses, bargaining became increasingly difficult, employers resisted fair solutions, and many of you stepped into organizing, mobilization, and strike action for the first time. Through phone zaps, picket lines, postering campaigns, rallies, and daily conversations with colleagues, members showed up in extraordinary ways. The strength of our strike votes and the resolve on the lines sent a clear message: quality education depends on fair working conditions.

One of the most powerful lessons of this strike was the importance of communication and community. Our daily strike newsletter, media work, and member-led storytelling helped build trust, counter employer misinformation, and keep us connected during an incredibly challenging time. Just as importantly, many members told me that the relationships built on the picket lines were a highlight—proof that while employers don’t create community for us, we absolutely can and do.

As we move into the wrap-up phase, we’ve begun debrief sessions at SMU and MSVU, using an “apples and onions” reflection to talk honestly about what worked and what didn’t. While some members understandably felt stretched thin, I was encouraged by how many people spoke about solidarity, confidence, and connection. These reflections will shape how we strengthen our committees, build more capacity, and prepare for future bargaining.

Looking ahead, there is important work underway. We are continuing organizing efforts to grow the local, including bringing Dalhousie architects into the bargaining unit. Labour-management discussions are resuming, with commitments already secured around student evaluations at MSVU and an upcoming LMC with Dalhousie in early 2026. I am also committed to ensuring that retro pay is never again used as a bargaining delay tactic that costs members money.

Finally, after everything you’ve given this year, I want us to celebrate. I hope to establish a local-wide social committee and plan an event in early January so we can come together, reconnect, and recognize the strength and resolve of this membership. If you’re interested in helping with that—or in getting more involved in any aspect of the local—please reach out.

This year showed what CUPE 3912 is capable of. Together, we shifted the conversation about precarious academic work in Nova Scotia, strengthened our union, and demonstrated the power of collective action. I am deeply proud to stand with you.

In solidarity,
Lauren McKenzie
President, CUPE 3912

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Gala – Report
Andrew Maize, NSCAD CUPE 3912, Bargaining Committee

I attended the CCPA Gala on November 6th as a delegate for CUPE 3912. I took a cab over to  the event with my driver Muhammad. It being 5:30, we leapt into discussion around the  everyone second favourite conversation topic – Halifax Traffic. He told me some nightmarish and  frustrating scenarios – and we agreed that it appears that the the city has no plan, and that the  proposed band-aid solutions (removing bike lanes WTF? and removing trees and houses on  Robie were not only insulting but useless. We discussed mass-transit options and limiting private  vehicle traffic on the peninsula. We caught the rising of the near full beaver moon while crossing  the new bridge. 

In the beer line, I spoke with two members of the Faculty Union at Saint Mary’s University, and  they spoke of solidarity with the then striking members of our local. I sat at the table with other  CUPE members, including the President of CUPE Nova Scotia. I introduced myself and  everyone was pleasant. I learned about how my fellow members got into working with the union  (a free meal was a common thread). I learned how busy everyone has been with all of the strikes  going on. We were seated in the front row, and I realized that we were head table once we got  called to the buffet FIRST! The menu was tuscan chicken, a nice sauce, with rice (or was it  potato?), veggies and a roll with butter. There were two types of salad, once with goat cheese,  and the other a caesar with bacon on the side. For dessert there we cookies and baked goods. 

We heard from all of the important projects and undertakings by Christine Saulnier, Director of  the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia. She spoke about their policy research  initiatives on housing, childcare, and advocacy for living wages standards for works in the  maritimes. The main speaker at the event was Leilani Farha, from her online bio “the former UN  Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing and Global Director of The Shift. Her work is  animated by the principle that housing is a social good, not a commodity. Leilani has helped  develop global human rights standards on the right to housing, including through her topical  reports on homelessness, the financialization of housing, informal settlements, rights-based  housing strategies, and the first UN Guidelines for the implementation of the right to housing.  She is the central character in the documentary PUSH regarding the financialization of housing,  screening around the world. Leilani Launched The Shift in 2017 with the UN Office of the High  Commissioner for Human Rights and United Cities and Local Government.” The format of the  talk was an Q and A with a journalist, but unfortunately was only about 20mins long, and the  questions were surface level and didn’t really go very deep into things. This was a shame  because Farha is a deeply knowledgable researcher on the housing crisis, and I think would have  had much more to offer on such a important matter. 

The event was an great introduction to her work and I look forward to learning more about these  initiatives. My participation also introduced me to other Union and progressive organizations  such as Fernwood Publishing, which I learned a lot about in the evening. Overall, my  participation allowed me to represent CUPE 3912 at a very visible event, and meet lots of people  in the community. These conversations and relationship will continue to benefit us as we work  towards our first collective agreement with NSCAD. 

Thanks for reading. 

My involvement with virtual picketing was limited to those times when in-person picketing was cancelled or delayed due to weather. Therefore, my experience is limited in comparison with those who relied more extensively or completely on virtual picketing opportunities.

Having stated that, from my perspective virtual picketing worked extremely well. For those members who were periodically unable or never able to participate in in-person picketing this method was essential to their ability to participate in the strike and to collect strike pay. For those like me who carried out in-person picketing as often as possible, virtual picketing proved most helpful in making up time lost on in-person picketing due to weather or personal factors (such as family responsibilities, appointments, etc.). If we were to go on strike in future, I would be very disappointed if a virtual picketing option was not available.

In terms of the process itself, once I was logged on to each Zoom session it went quite smoothly for me. Online picket captains did an excellent job of welcoming us, explaining procedures, and assisting newcomers to the process. The linked task lists that were provided to members were very helpful. I could see what tasks were available and which of those were prioritized by the union. I especially appreciated the flexibility to work on some tasks that may not have been listed specifically but which were along similar lines to those that were. In my case, these activities were cleared with the picket captains.

Again, my more limited experiences with the process make it harder for me to offer much in the way of substantive constructive criticism. The one issue that I can think of involves accessing the Zoom sessions themselves. I did find it a bit awkward searching through various emails for the Zoom links (sometimes having to go back through several days of email to find those links). 

Perhaps there could be a clearly labelled section on CUPE’s website for virtual strike activities where Zoom links for each university could be posted. Such a section of the website could be password protected so that non union members could not view or enter it. Aside from presenting the Zoom links themselves, such a section of the website could also serve as a central point of access to information on eligibility for participation in virtual picketing, scheduling of virtual picketing activities, and other information. This might be helpful for everyone, and especially to those like me who engaged in virtual picketing on an infrequent basis. If such links did exist on CUPE’s website, my apologies for overlooking them.

An alternative to providing a dedicated page on CUPE’s website for virtual strike duties could be to include Zoom links and the online picketing schedule in each email update from leadership, perhaps toward the end of each update or message. That way, we would only ever have to look at the last communication from leadership for virtual picketing information and Zoom links for each school. This method might also ensure that we are viewing the most up to date information about virtual picketing, as during the final week of the strike some of the original picketing plans were changed as the situation developed (although these changes seemed to affect in-person picketing more than virtual picketing).

If I understood the situation correctly, in the earlier stages of the strike Zoom links for virtual picketing were shared only with those members who were signed up for online strike duties. This was done to encourage any and all members who could potentially picket in person to do so. If this is correct, then I understand entirely why that approach was taken (so as to maximize numbers on the in-person picket lines and minimize the degrees to which some might take advantage of, or even abuse, the virtual picketing option). I have to admit, however, that during the strike I don’t recall anyone complaining about, or even mentioning, any awareness of abuse of the virtual picketing option. If that perception accurately reflects the situation, then it’s an excellent comment on the honesty and dedication of our union membership.

As time went on, and after a couple of sessions when virtual picketing was opened up to all members due to the delay or cancellation of in-person picketing, there seemed to be a transition toward all members having access to the Zoom links for each school. At that point, the kinds of measures suggested above (for easier access to Zoom links and virtual picket scheduling) might have been taken. 

Although the volume of description above may make it appear as if I’m harping on the issue of access to information about and Zoom links for virtual picketing, I’m really not. At the end of the day, I was always able to get the information and the links that I needed after some searching through emails and other communications. These suggestions are made only in a spirit of support and gratitude for all of the hard work undertaken by our leadership team, including online picket captains and all those who made virtual picketing a successful reality. I think it was a great asset to the strike and hope that it will remain a part of our union’s “toolkit” moving forward.

Below, I have written out a guide for “back-to-work”. I wrote the text and asked Gemini (an AI-driven tool) to put my text into a guide that would be easy to read (i.e., it created headings and subheadings).

Once a faculty strike ends, the challenge of “back-to-work” begins. Returning to the classroom after a strike requires strategic planning and empathy. We need to be realistic about our own capacity for work while ensuring fairness and transparency for our students. The goal is to finish the semester strong without rushing or compromising core learning objectives. While the university should have additional guidelines about what remediation looks like, the information below can serve as a starting point so you can begin to think about what aspects of your course you may need to adapt and how best to do so.

1. Reassessing Course Content

When adjusting content, remember that students tend to be critical of just dropping material as they feel they are learning less. We need to focus on what is truly necessary for them to succeed going forward.

• Prioritize Core Competencies: Be mindful of what is necessary for students to know when they leave the course. Peripheral topics are more easily dropped than core competencies.
• Condense, Don’t Just Drop: It may be preferable to keep all the chapters but cover less in each rather than completely dropping a single chapter; however, it may also work better to simply drop a chapter and then be able to go into the normal amount of detail on the remaining chapters.
• Balance Instructional Methods: If you normally include both lecture AND active learning parts of your course, consider whether you can skip either the lecture or the active learning component for certain topics to save time. However, it’s definitely better to cover less material well than to rush through more material poorly.
• Leverage External and Recorded Content:
  • Record a lecture or two about material you missed that you don’t want to drop completely but also don’t have time to still lecture on. A 20–30 minute video of the “highlights” would be great, with an emphasis on material that is important for the final exam or for subsequent chapters.
  • Look for a high-quality video or article that may cover the same content (e.g., a good documentary, TED talk, or resource provided by the textbook publisher) that you could more easily assign to your students to watch or read.
• Offer Optional Support: Consider holding optional office hours (online or in person) that students can either drop in or sign up to attend. For example, if you had to drop some active learning components from your classes, offer to go through some of those during these optional sessions. While not many students may take you up on that offer, some may find it helpful.

2. Revising Assessment and Grading Schemes

When managing assignments, be realistic about what students can actually accomplish in a condensed format and how much grading you can realistically fit into the time remaining.

• Stagger Deadlines: Extending all deadlines may create too much difficulty if you have to grade a lot of things at once. It’s still a good idea to extend deadlines where you can (especially for auto-graded components like multiple choice quizzes based on chapters), but be mindful of the impact of having them all due, say, the last day of class.
• Focus on Summative Work: Consider dropping formative assignments (i.e., work that is mostly for student practice and reflection, like journals or short quizzes) and focusing on summative ones (i.e., assignments that are crucial to demonstrate knowledge learned). Prioritize summative over formative.
• Reduce Quantity of Assessments: If you had students complete several of one type of assessment (e.g., chapter quizzes, discussion board posts), consider reducing the number that are considered for the final grade. For example, instead of having 8 of 12 podcast reflection grades count, have 6 of 12.
• Respect Completed Work: You could also just say the assignments that would have been due during the strike will not be due anymore. However, be mindful that some students will have continued to complete assignments or submit work during the strike. They may be resentful if they worked hard only to have that work removed or dropped.
• Reweighting for Fairness: Reweight the course so that assessments from before the strike are worth more. For example, if you had a midterm and a final exam and the former was worth less than the latter, maybe swap that. Put more weight on what students completed under “ideal” circumstances and less on what they completed under the post-strike conditions, which are not ideal.

3. Adjusting the Final Exam Format

The final exam should reflect what students were actually able to learn under these compressed conditions, not what they might have memorized under normal circumstances.

• Alter the Format: Consider altering the format of the final exam, especially if it involves a lot of memorizing of content that is now being delivered in a condensed amount of time.
• Reduce Stress: Consider having fewer questions on the final exam, some element of choice (i.e., choose two of the following three questions to answer), or allowing students to bring in a notes sheet (e.g., a single sheet of paper, or an index card) to help reduce the stress of having to remember information they didn’t have as much time to learn in class.

4. Giving Students Agency

Research shows that many students said that the most important part of re-starting classes was having a say in what the rest of the semester would look like.

• Seek Input First: In one study, around 60% of students who experienced a strike would have appreciated either (a) their professor leading a class discussion and then letting the students vote on how to adjust the syllabus or (b) being able to choose an individualized plan (perhaps from two or three possible options) that worked best for them. You may want to ask them open-ended questions in a short quiz or open up a discussion in class when you get back. Questions like:
  • “Before you vote on my proposed remediation or give me any suggestions for alternate plans, please share anything you’d like me to know about your experience of the strike or how it impacted you. This is NOT required and you can certainly skip answering it.”
  • “Is there anything else you’d like to ask me about the strike or about how to finish out the semester now that the strike is over?”
• Propose and Vote: You may want to propose changes for each aspect of your syllabus (e.g., class content, chapter quizzes, assignments, presentations, projects, final exam) and then have students vote on whether they approve of your proposed suggestions or not. This would let you know that, for example, 85% of students are in favour of extending deadlines for chapter quizzes but only 40% are comfortable with dropping a chapter, which could help you adjust your remediation plan.
• Offer Flexible Grading Schemes: You could also have several grading schemes that students can “choose” from and then use the grading scheme for them that results in the highest grade. This lets students take a more targeted approach to their remaining few weeks and gives them more agency. For example, you could have the original syllabus grading scheme, a grading scheme that emphasizes pre-strike assessment and de-emphasizes post-strike assessments, and a grading scheme with fewer assignments (e.g., students can now drop 2 low grades or there will now only be 6 journals instead of 8).
• Communicate P/NC Option: Let them know the senate approved that “any student who receives a specific letter grade for a paused course can request that it be changed to a P/NC grade.” However, they should be mindful of what this might mean if the course is a requirement for future courses or degrees (e.g., some programs require specific grades, not just a pass).

5. Clear Communication

Communicate clearly to your students by creating a detailed document. Consider creating a document titled “Post-Strike Revised Schedule and Grading Plan” (you could also call this a proposed schedule and grading plan if you intend to seek their input or have them weigh in on the plan) and posting it to your course homepage and emailing it to students so they know where to find information about how the syllabus will be revised and what to expect once classes resume.

The following message was sent to Media Relations and Issues Management, External Affairs, at SMU. Last Friday Media Relations emailed CUPE 3912 member David Campbell (Dept. of History) to inquire about his availability for an interview with CBC. The interview was to be about the Khaki University of Canada, an organization that was designed to educate Canadian service personnel during the First World War. The following was David’s response to that email:

Thank you for contacting me on Friday. I very much regret being unavailable for CBC’s request for an interview, but I was engaged on CUPE 3912’s picket line all day on Friday. Needless to say, I wish I had been able to answer the request for an interview, but I had to stand in solidarity with my fellow part-time faculty members.

This is an unfortunate example of what I imagine are many missed opportunities for SMU to engage with the broader community through the collective experience and expertise of part-time faculty members. Some of us have research areas or specializations in certain subjects that are not fully covered by full-time faculty members in the departments where we work. We could be much greater assets to the university, but we face ongoing marginalization in terms of our employment.

I have been living in Halifax since 2000 and teaching courses at both SMU and Mount Saint Vincent since 2006. It has long been ironic to me that in a community with such a deep and pervasive military and naval heritage that there are no historians on full-time staff who specialize in Canadian military history at any of the universities in town. Over the past nineteen years I have had infrequent opportunities to teach this particular subject through a special topic course focusing primarily on Canada during the era of the two world wars. 

The majority of my time is spent teaching courses that are either somewhat related or not at all related to my specialty. During a typical academic year the closest that I come to such specialization in the classroom is when I teach SMU’s courses on the World at War, 1914-1918 and the World at War, 1939-1945. These courses are two of my favorites in the regular rosters of courses that I cover at SMU and the Mount during each academic year. But the European and broader global focuses of these courses place sharp limits on the attention that I can devote to Canadian experiences. 

In trying to cobble together something of “a living” from teaching as many courses as I can at more than one school throughout each year, it leaves me in more challenging circumstances when it comes to keeping up with the latest developments in what is supposed to be my own specialized field of study. Although over the years I have managed to present papers and to produce publications (including a scholarly monograph), trying to make a living through part-time teaching means that I have had to sacrifice a great deal of my own research and publication ambitions when it comes to Canada’s history during the First World War. There are many part-time colleagues in history and in other departments who could no doubt say the same thing.

This is what makes the university’s determination to continue underpaying and under-supporting contract faculty so disheartening. We have already given away more of our time, talent, and ambition than would be tolerated by any full-time academic, support, or administrative staff. And yet we are expected by the institution to remain satisfied by rates of pay that are among the lowest in the entire country, a complete absence of benefits, and no pathway to any kind of permanent or full-time employment.

I still routinely field questions from relatives and friends as to why I have not yet achieved status as a full-time faculty member after almost twenty years of steady teaching work (usually over twelve months of the year – year in, year out). Most members of the broader community have little to no inkling of how academic employment works or the systemic barriers that routinely impede contract faculty from achieving either permanent part-time status or, better yet for many of us, full-time status. My mystified relatives and friends point to other job environments in which employers are routinely required to consider (or even privilege) part-time or casual employees for any permanent or full-time positions that may arise in those organizations. But this is not the case in academia, where universities often find ways to discount part-timers from consideration for different types of permanent or full-time work. As such, my circles of relatives and friends tend to regard universities as disgraceful exploiters of part-time instructors. This is not a good look for the university among members of the public who are aware of what we face as part-time faculty. The current strike has the potential to inform many more members of the public about the situation.

Protests from university administration that improving our pay and working conditions are too costly and “not in the institution’s best interests” are met by stark economic realities. As CUPE 3912 understands the situation, part-time faculty teach approximately 30 percent of courses at SMU. Yet the stipends that we are paid collectively represent only around 10 percent of the university’s budget. This makes it difficult, if not impossible to believe the administration’s arguments that they cannot bring our pay up to national median standards for contract faculty. We’re not asking to be the best paid in the country; we simply don’t want to be among the worst paid. There is a difference.

Critics in the general population might comment that I and others like me should simply “move elsewhere” to find better employment. Such sentiments are met in my case by commitments to family that keep me tied to Halifax and, more broadly, to Nova Scotia and PEI. To be there for my family I had to give up the prospect of moving elsewhere in the country or the world in order to find full-time academic work. We are not all as free in our choices and options as many might imagine.

If there is no possibility of a tenure track position ever being offered in my area of specialization at SMU, then a lectureship or some form of permanent part-time status might afford me the possibility to add my special topic course on Canada at War to the History Department’s regular roster of courses. This also would give me greater latitude to focus on my own area of specialization so that I might be more ready to take opportunities such as CBC’s request for an interview about the Khaki University during the First World War. I would be better placed to be a “go-to source” for the broader community on questions regarding Canada’s wartime experiences and postwar memory. This would in turn further raise SMU’s profile as a source of expertise for the community.

I suggest that the university would be better served by offering greater supports for our work in teaching and research. An employee that feels more supported and satisfied with their work experience will be a much more effective ambassador for the university and its mission, whether their status is part-time or full-time in nature. Instructors with higher morale will perform even more effectively as teachers in the classroom and as experts available to the media and other members of the general public. Our desires to do the best we can for our students and our communities should not be used against us in efforts to minimize our pay and the quality of our working conditions.

Part-time instructors are a diverse group with varying interests and needs. Although my own experiences and sentiments may be echoed by any number of my colleagues, others will feel differently depending on their own circumstances. Some part-timers have active careers in settings outside of the university, while others are teaching courses following their retirement.  

Despite our different backgrounds, agendas, and outlooks, part-time faculty have a shared determination to achieve better remuneration and working conditions. In that respect, being driven to take strike action has awoken among us a sense that perhaps many are really feeling for the first time – a sense of solidarity with each other. 

Many thanks for taking the time to consider the broader issues raised by what otherwise would have been a straightforward opportunity to liaise with local media. Your time and understanding are greatly appreciated.

Sincerely yours,

David Campbell

Contract Faculty and Adjunct Professor, Department of History

P.S. For additional perspectives and reactions from other part-time faculty members, there are a number of excellent write-ups and responses to the current situation on CUPE 3912’s blog available at: https://cupe3912.ca/category/blog/