Professors’ Strike Looms at the University of Windsor

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Photo from 2008’s professors strike at the University of Windsor

University of Windsor Professors, Librarians and Academic Staff are poised to be on strike tomorrow morning if last-minute negotiations do not allow an “agreement [to] be reached beforehand”.

While University of Windsor Administration maintains that they are “confident that an agreement can be reached before the deadline”, and the Windsor University Faculty Association (WUFA) has “hope for a negotiated, fair, and equitable contract before the strike deadline”, preparations are being made for the event that a strike should prove necessary.

An FAQ for Students, Parents and the Community has been placed on WUFA’s website, and the latest public update for WUFA members online states that “picket locations and times will…be posted on the WUFA website…if strike action is required”.

More than 1000 WUFA members voted 90% in favour of strike action on September 7th and 8th to back their side of the collective bargaining process and the union filed for a “no board” report with the Ministry of Labour (Ontario) on September 23rd.

WUFA lists their bargaining issues and concerns as “greater employment security for long serving sessionals”, “radical changes in our pension plan”, and “15 to 20% reduction in our take home pay” among others.

The University lists their concerns as “compensation costs, which account for the majority of the university’s operating budget”, “costs of supporting our pension plans” and that WUFA members continue to “receive base pay increases” since Provincial wage legislation was enacted in March 2010.

The University of Windsor was almost entirely shut down three years ago when WUFA went on strike on Wednesday September 17th, 2008. Students joined in to rally with their professors. Ultimately, the strike ended on October 1st of that year.

WUFA met with University Administration’s negotiators, a provincially-appointed conciliator and a mediator during several dates in September and October and continues to meet with a mediator as of this writing.

On October 12th, University of Windsor President Alan Wildeman sent a public memo to WUFA that was aimed to “dispel certain misconceptions about the University administration’s position”.

Because negotiations are still ongoing, WUFA stated to their members, “do not cancel classes in anticipation of a strike, and do not use the classroom as a forum for discussing our issues”.

windsoriteDOTca will be monitoring the situation this evening and will make every effort to alert our readership if a strike does or does not occur.

The earliest Professors, Librarians and Academic staff can be on strike is tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at 12:01am.