There is no way to know how to deal with these sorts of situations. There is no instruction manual that gives a step by step breakdown explaining what to do. There are no files in my office that offer wisdom from past presidents who experienced this.
I even made my way down to the UWSA archive room to see if I could find minutes from the council in 1982 when the last faculty strike of 6 days took place. The extent of my findings was the following:
Sac B of D Minutes September 8, 1982
Page 2
5.0 Other Business
Professors' Strike: It was made clear that the professors are now in a legal position to strike. We have an assurance by the administration that there will be no strike. Jim mentioned that the administration has been very cooperative.
What is the role of the Students' Union in a faculty strike? My guess is as good as yours. Perhaps when this is over I should make it my thesis.
The formula I have come up with is as follows:
1. Meet with both parties and gather information
2. Plead both parties to reach a fair agreement that recognizes the fiscal restraints of the institution
3. Write formal letters to the government, both parties, and both negotiating teams
4. Ensure the impact being felt by students is well known by both parties
5. Hold a demonstration/rally to inform/involve the student body
6. Solicit support from students' unions from across Canada
7. Investigate legal options
Repeat 1-5 until agreement is reached. In case of stalling substitute 7 for "Implement legal options"
8. Post agreement: Demand student involvement in back to work protocol
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The faculty association donated $5000 + to an emergency student strike fund. If you have ideas as to how we should distribute the money please make them known, our board will be meeting soon and would appreciate your input.
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There will be another demonstration on Monday at 2:30pm. The council has planned a memorial service for the education we have lost. We will also be signing a petition to be presented to the ministry who seems to be ignoring our letters.
At 3:30pm on Monday Dr. Wildeman will be hosting a briefing for UWSA, GSS and OPUS elected representatives. The UWSA reps will make ourselves available at 5pm in the pub for an informal discussion about the briefing. If possible we will see to it that this briefing is recorded and made available on our website.
9 comments:
Well if your from the area I'm sure you are familiar with strikes. At this stage (and if you have siblings you'll recognize this) were at:
Kid 1: "Were not talking to them if they're not talking to us"
Kid 2: "While if they're not talking ot us were not talking to them"
Mom: Both of you go to your rooms and don't come out untill you can talk.
Mom, err i mean the moderator, is letting them cool their heals for a bit. Hopefully after a weekend they'll smarten up and can talk again, after were done pouting and throwing things. Untill then, take a nap. Mabey the moderartor will let you go smack both sides on the back head as good ol dad on their way out of their "rooms"
;) I await your thesis "Negotiation tatics, and why everything my mother did was right"
One mistake that you made as a student body is you supported one side (WUFA) instead of staying unbiased. It is quite silly that you donated money to them as well, considering you don't want them to strike, you just supported their strike.
I thought WUFA donated money to the UWSA, and not the other way around...?
I wanted to mention that I am quite at awe as why students are feeling helpless, and under stress. Students have the final saying in here and are stronger as it is suggested by both parties at strike. You as the UWSA president have the key to end this. Give both sides an ultimatum, and ask them to reach an agreement by next week. Ask students to go to their classes on Monday. Tell both parties that if by Monday there were no classes; students are going for a class action lawsuit. Be firm, and give both parties the sense of urgency to end this.
Well, assuming the number of enrolled students is correct... the emergency student strike fund would put $0.31 back in our pockets. It's absolutely inane!
USWA also officaly supported the WUFA with both time and money, for some yet to be explained reason....
As you say one of your jobs is to inform students, and you have missed a huge portion of that. While you did have an information session around a week ago (sadly on one side of the debate turned up) I see no way for students who were unable to come into the university to get this information on the UWSA webpage. While I'm deeply upset at the total lack of respect of the university for not showing up, they finally did have a their own session, and not a day later an mp3 is available from their webpage.
Why hasn't the UWSA been able to do the same for the students? If the University is censoring you by not allowing you to upload this to your webpage (like the email) the UWSA needs to find their own hosting *immediately*. As well I hope you are actively investigating a way of being able to inform the *entire* student populous without the administration's permission and censoring.
And yes, something outside of facebook. This is not a suitable substitute for publicly viewable website.
I think that the money that WUFA "donated" should not be accepted...has anyone ever heard of a bribe? instead of the faculty giving students money why not reduce the amount of money they want from the administration, students are paying for it in some form or another, its just paying for it up front or afterwards...good on WUFA for being able to sway the students...shame on the UWSA for falling for it...im rooting for the admin on this one...enjoy the strike
The UWSA (Executives) have made offical statments supporting the strike and have donated money and time to support the strikers.
Though I really wish they would state(on this blog, the UWSA webpage, whatever) why they chose to do this and how they reached the decision, they have however remained silent on it so far.
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