The union representing teaching assistants and contract instructors at Carleton will be ramping up their activities before contract negotiations with Carleton over the summer.
Toby Moorsom, a co-vice-president of Canadian Union of Public Employees local 4600 (CUPE 4600), says the union is trying to pressure the university for better working conditions and a higher salary in the next round of negotiations.
“We want to bring attention to the fact that a large portion of our members that are teaching our undergrad classes on campus are living in poverty and are struggling to make ends meet,” he said.
Moorsom said the union has two main goals before the summer. He said the first goal is to reach out and inform undergraduate students about their working conditions.
“We feel that undergrads have a vested interest in changing our precarious conditions because our working conditions are their learning conditions,” Moorsom said.
The second goal is to let the university know they want to start negotiations as soon as possible. He said the union will be ready to negotiate in June as soon as their collective agreement allows. Their current contract expires in August, before the start of the fall semester.
Carleton declined to comment on this story but Chris Cline, media relations officer for the university, said they will be ready to negotiate with CUPE 4600 in June.
“We will not comment on the specifics of those negotiations until an agreement is reached,” Cline said.
Moorsom said one the biggest problems facing contract instructors is a low salary. Carleton contract instructors are paid the second lowest in the province, according to a survey done by the union. The lowest paid are at Brock University. Contract instructors are currently allowed to teach two courses per semester, which adds up to a total of $30,000 per year, he said.
On March 23 members of CUPE 4600 were in the University Centre’s atrium handing out information on the union and contract instructors at Carleton.
Joel Harden, a contract instructor in legal studies, said it was a good chance to be visible and to let students know about the difference between contract instructors and fully tenured professors.
Members of the union were giving out free soup—like a soup kitchen—to emphasize their desire for higher salary, Harden said.
“I hope students know we love working with them and we take it very seriously but we’re tired of doing it for pennies on the dollar and we’re asking for their support,” Harden said.
Moorsom said Carleton contract instructors make 18 per cent less than those at the University of Ottawa (U of O). Getting the same salary will be one of their biggest points to negotiate about, he said.
The same survey found 70 per cent of contract instructors work more than 10 hours per week on their course, but are only paid for 10 hours’ work. Many instructors are also involved with research of their own and not just classes, Moorsom said.
He said CUPE 4600 wants to have a new contract signed by the time classes start for the fall semester at the beginning of September. If this doesn’t happen there is a chance they will go on strike, Moorsom said.
“It’s the last thing we want but we are going to prepare for it because our membership has reached a point where they are fed up,” Moorsom said.
