Spring 2000 – Report from the CAUT Defence Fund

As I am writing this report, on the eve of my leaving for a sabbatical trip to Spain, I cannot help but wish I could stay in Canada a while longer to witness two important developments: the strike at UCCB, now in its third week, and the pending strike at Moncton, about to start within a few days. Both associations, UCCB FAUT and ABPPUM, were scheduled to meet with their respective employers this weekend (February 25-27), and there is a faint hope that the strike will be resolved at UCCB, and averted at Moncton. By the time this report is actually presented to Council, both situations will have evolved and hopefully settlements reached. I will update Council members orally.

If ABPPUM goes out before FAUT settles, it will be the first time in the history of the Defence Fund that two associations are out at the same time. Members of both associations are in high spirits and very determined not to give up until they receive what they are asking for: decent wages and decent working conditions. Members of both associations are by far the lowest-paid faculty in their respective provinces, members of both associations received minimal (Moncton) to no (UCCB) salary increment in several years, both campuses play a crucial role in providing post-secondary education to a local population whose youth would likely not attend university if they had to move outside the region.

The Defence Fund is called upon more often than in the past, strikes tend to last longer, and employers are more and more arrogant, more and more offensive, more and more inventive in the way they mistreat their academic staff, fabricate lies, and publish false figures and facts.

On January 12, 2000, Trustees held a meeting by conference call to approve strike benefits, a loan to cover insured benefits and a line of credit of $250,000 to UCCB FAUT, and on February 24, another meeting by conference call was convened to approve strike benefits, a loan and a line of credit of one million dollars to ABPPUM. Bob Rosebrugh and myself met ABPPUM members on two occasions (November and February) to answer their innumerable questions regarding help from the Defence Fund, should a strike be unavoidable.

On February 18, ten Trustees from across Canada joined our UCCB FAUT colleagues on the picket line in bone-chilling minus 38 Celsius. Bill Graham, CAUT president, and Paul Fortier, UMFA president, also joined in. Despite the frigid temperature, the strong feeling of national solidarity made the experience heartwarming for strikers and visitors alike. Another group of Defence Fund Trustees is scheduled to join the strikers on the picket line in Sydney on March 3, and in Moncton on March 10. Many thanks to Bob Rosebrugh who coordinated the February 18 visit to Sydney and will coordinate the March 10 visit to Moncton, and to Dennis Felbel who agreed to coordinate the March 3 second visit to Sydney.

In other news, the University of Regina Faculty Association, who had been invited to attend the October 1999 meeting of Trustees in Montreal, has not yet decided whether or not to join the Defence Fund. The CAUT Defence Fund website is now translated into French, and the English site should be updated shortly.

Many thanks to the CAUT staff in Ottawa for their invaluable continuing support.

Respectfully submitted,

Denise Nevo
Chair, CAUT Defence Fund
February 27, 2000

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Update to my February 27 report
(CAUT Defence Fund - Spring 2000)

After an absence of three weeks, I came back to Canada to find good news and bad news: the good news was that the strike at UCCB had ended after 36 days, with the help of a government-appointed mediator; the bad news was that the strike at Moncton was not averted.

On March 3, several Trustees joined our striking colleagues on the picket line in Sydney for a second national solidarity visit to UCCB FAUT, and a first national solidarity visit was organized on March 10 to bring psychological support to our Moncton colleagues. At this occasion, a large one million dollar cheque (line of credit) was presented by Alex Kondra (Acadia) and Marilyn Rennick (Ottawa) to ABPPUM’s president, Greg Allain, during a big media event. Many thanks to Dennis Felbel (Manitoba) and Bob Rosebrugh (Mount Allison) who organized these visits. A second visit to Moncton took place on March 27, when the strike was well into its fourth week. The good news that day was that a mediator from Quebec had just been appointed, following Greg Allain’s direct conversation with New Brunswick’s Premier, Bernard Lord. However, it took another 10 days and the additional help of a senior New Brunswick mediator before an agreement was finally reached, bringing the strike to an end after 36 days.

So we did set another new record: for the first time in the history of the Defence Fund, two member associations were on strike at the same time, fighting what appears to be the worst two employers in Canada. It all happened in the same part of our large country, the Maritime Provinces. Both strikes lasted 36 days - second only to the YUFA strike (55 days, in 1997). No doubt that the Defence Fund has to stand ready to face such a situation again, and one cannot emphasize enough the need to keep building the Fund to face these more frequent and longer strikes.

As for the value of the Defence Fund’s national solidarity visits, Michael Manson said it all: "Thank you to all those who have sent good wishes to UCCB FAUT on our victory. Please know how much the support from across the country has meant to us. And a special thank you to the Defence Fund and the flying pickets that came to walk with us on the line in abysmal weather. The first of those was especially horrid since it was about -35 degrees with the wind that whipped down the sidewalk in front of UCCB. In case anyone doesn’t realize it, there is something profoundly uplifting for picketers when their colleagues from everywhere else walk with them. Too often we think that the fight is ours alone. Then the flying pickets arrive, and we know that it isn’t just we who are fighting, but that everyone across Canada knows how important the fight is. So thanks to the Defence Fund for organizing the two pickets, and thanks to those who gave up their weekends in the warmth of their homes to withstand the cold and the wet and to stand the gaff with us. In solidarity. Michael Manson - President, UCCB FAUT."

Respectfully submitted,
Denise Nevo
Chair, CAUT Defence Fund -
April 7, 2000