Fall 1998 – Report from the CAUT Defence Fund

There have now been five strikes by academic staff at Canadian universities in the last three years. This rate is significantly higher than the average (about one per year) over the last twenty years while the Defence Fund has been operating.

Most recently, from November 9 to November 12, 1998 the Brandon University Faculty Association (BUFA) was on strike (and locked out). The firm resolve of BUFA members was evident even to observers from a distance. The justice of their cause and that firm resolve led to the successful resolution of the dispute. Every faculty strike is a long and wrenching experience for everyone involved, but BUFA was able to reach a settlement relatively quickly.

It should be noted that while lockouts had been relatively rare, both of the last two strikes by Canadian academic staff have been accompanied by employer lockouts. The university employers' 1995 tactic of rushing to conciliation has apparently been replaced by this new one in 1998. It is already clear that this tactic will be no more effective than the last one.

Just the day before the BUFA strike started, the University of Manitoba Faculty Association(UMFA) reached a new collective agreement only hours before a strike deadline.

In the case of both BUFA and UMFA, the Defence Fund Trustees approved strike pay, benefit continuation and a large line of credit for Faculty Associations on the verge of a strike. The Trustees are confident that the financial support which the Defence Fund could guarantee was an important part in assuring the resolve of academic staff members as they faced the prospect of being forced onto picket lines.

On a happy note for the Defence Fund, the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association has become the newest member association in the Defence Fund. Members of UWOFA voted nearly 90% in favour of joining the Defence Fund at a meeting held in mid-September. There are now close to 12,000 unionized Canadian academic staff in Defence Fund member associations.

Meanwhile, the assets of the Defence Fund have been recovering from the major expenditure during the 1997 strike at York University and are currently about $10 million. It is worth noting that the total annual cost of administering the Defence Fund is well under 1% of the value of the Fund. The day to day administration of the fund accounts for about a third of these costs and is ably handled by CAUT staff while the rest of the expenses are incurred by meetings of the Trustees - once annually in person as required by the Defence Fund Bylaw, and now several meetings per year by conference call to deal with requests for strike benefits.

This year's annual meeting was held in Winnipeg in October and provided a close up look at the situations of UMFA and BUFA. At the meeting the Trustees approved the entry of UWOFA and heard reports on bargaining from across the country. The Trustees re-elected William Schrank of Memorial as Treasurer, Alex Kondra of Acadia as Chair of the Membership Committee and Ben Meyer of Windsor as Chair of the Investment Committee. Diane Peters of Wilfrid Laurier (and now Chair of the CAUT Librarian's Committee) retired as Chair of the Policy and Planning Committee and her position was taken by Denise Nevo of Mount St. Vincent.

Finally, it is always a pleasure to acknowledge the continuing efficient work of CAUT staff in the administration of the Defence Fund.

Robert Rosebrugh,
Chair, CAUT Defence Fund
November 1998