The Windsor University Faculty Association (WUFA) and the university have returned to the bargaining table only a few days before WUFA’s planned strike.
WUFA threatened to strike if a settlement between the administration and the faculty of the University of Windsor (U of W) was not reached by 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday Oct. 1.
The association implemented a rotating strike on Sept. 15 that resulted in the cancellation of all university classes. On Sept. 23, negotiations with a mediator from the Ontario Ministry of Labour took place.
The content of this meeting remains confidential, according to the press release.
In a letter to the university community, president Alan Wildeman said WUFA’s demands are unreasonable.
“WUFA’s representation of the University’s funding of buildings, its operating budget, and its pension challenges are wrong and not supported by any credible bodies to which the University’s operations are accountable,” he wrote.
Wildeman said U of W is undergoing a “badly needed” $250-million campus renewal.
He said the university has also had to realign expenses due to the increasing costs of the faculty pension plan.
“WUFA’s extraordinary claims all summer that somehow the University has no financial challenges are utterly baffling,” he wrote.
WUFA president Anne Forrest said the university administration needs to give WUFA the opportunity to discuss these financial realities the university faces through collective bargaining.
“[Wildeman] keeps pontificating, he keeps telling us what those realities are but he doesn’t give us an opportunity to discuss them or consider their implications through the negotiating process,” she said.
She said the faculty is reluctant to implement a full work stoppage.
“We’re not radical people by nature. We aren’t people who pick fights by nature, [and] we feel like we’ve been kind of pushed into this,” she said. “We’ve gone two months without collective bargaining. That’s unconscionable.”
Students said the potential strike is more than an inconvenience.
Kristi Dupuis, a fourth-year environmental science student, said her grades and degree are at risk. She said students and professors alike are getting tired of the conflict.
“Honestly, I think everyone just wants to get back to classes,” she said.
Fourth-year kinesiology student Matt John said he doesn’t think the strike will last long enough to adversely effect his school year. Like Dupuis, he said he recognizes the professors’ reluctance.
“The fact of the matter is, it’s just a business and it’s all about money and it’s all about being the most efficient and profitable and everyone wants to get paid the right amount,” he said.
Forrest said she hopes students understand the faculty’s choice. She said she’s supportive of student plans to organize sit-ins at the WUFA office and Wildeman’s office.
“Students should gather together and make their voices heard. I’m all for students figuring out what their point of view is and making it known,” she said.
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