Theodore Roosevelt once said:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
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Memo I sent to the chief negotiators for both teams (and each member of the teams), Alan Wildeman, Brian Brown:
I am writing to you within my capacity as President of the University of Windsor Students’ Alliance on behalf of 12,000 undergraduate students.
From what I have come to understand the University left the last offer on the table and is waiting for a counter from WUFA. I have also been informed that WUFA has prepared a counter to the offer and is ready to return to the negotiating table. As far as I am aware the mediator has been informed that WUFA is prepared to resume talks and has informed the University of this fact.
If all of this information is true, and both negotiating teams are at the hotel or within 15 minutes of the hotel what is stopping the bargaining process?
Thousands of students have invested millions of dollars into their education at this institution.
Please go back to the bargaining table and end this strike immediately.
I have the utmost respect for each and every one of you; all I ask is that you step up to the plate right now and set a time to resume talks.
Our education is at stake; please do not take that lightly.
Sincerely,
Tiffany Gooch
President
University of Windsor Students’ Alliance
Responses:
Dear Tiffany,
Thank you for your email. Please rest assured that our negotiating team and I did everything in our power to avert the strike. We scaled down our expectations and our proposals significantly before the strike deadline. The University administration then gave us what they called their best offer on tuesday just before the strike deadline. It was an all or nothing offer. There were too many features - including clawbacks - that the Union simply could not accept.
On Sunday evening I indicated to the mediator that we were willing to come back to the table with our entire team and we had a written counter that we were willing to table. The Administration team has not expressed a willingness to return to the table. Currently we are communicating through the mediator. We remain totally committed to attaining a fair and equitable collective agreement because that is in the interests of everyone in the University, students and faculty and librarians alike.
Please feel free to contact me if I have not been clear on any aspect of what is going on. All of us on our side of the table are professors/librarian. We are as anxious as you are to return to school.
Emily Carasco
Dr. Emily F. Carasco
Professor, Faculty of Law
University of Windsor
Hi Tiffany:
Thank you for your letter. We share your concerns and are working hard to achieve a Collective Agreement.
Sincerely,
Gwen
8 comments:
I don't really understand why the university is not returning to the bargaining table. It is like they don't care about students. It seems that this strike is lasting for ever, that's why they wrote recommendations for students during faculty strike. We do NOT want recommendations, we only recommend that they get back to the table and finish their negotiations ASAP. I am frustrated and can't wait any longer!
Hi There - I am a staff member here at the University. Trust me when I say that you are putting pressure on the wrong group. WUFA has everyone trying to put pressure on the administration, when the pressure should be on WUFA. We are living in trying economic times, and the University can only offer so much $$. There was recently budget cuts across the whole University prior to this strike. WUFA knows this, yet still expects more $$. They say it is not about the money but read their literature and you will notice that all they talk about is money. WUFA is funded by the salaries of the faculty (Union dues). Why do you think they don't want to take any clawbacks?
The administration's decision to pull out of the UWSA meeting says a lot. Obviously they could not face students and publicly lie that the university is interested in settling the strike. They have already saved hundreds of thousands in faculty wages, while students get nothing. Shame!
So when are they going to meet and negotiate?!
It is not strange that WUFA members never mentioned "Quality of Education" in yesterday's meeting because all they care about is money. One of their members said that the conclusion has to be a win-win situation. Well, that's great, the administration wins, WUFA members win and students will be the only losers. I mean people talk about a win-win situation when there are only 2 parties involved, but in this case there is a third party, i.e. the students, who should be at the top of the list, without them, there would be no university nor faculty. UWSA should not be supporting WUFA and they should not be supporting the administration either, they should only support the students that they represent and do everything possible to get them back to classes, supporting one side over the other would put them in a stronger position that they wouldn't lower their demands. That is not what we want, we want to put pressure on both parties and weaker their position so they become more flexible and negotiate.
Not exactly what you signed up for I guess. The best thing you can probably do is to do something for the students. They are probably bored out of their minds (and frustrated). Be students and throw a party.
Oh and I really hope the "minutes" or the Q/A period of the meeting are posted on the internet. The students who missed it, or travel are likely very interested to see this. As are probably some of the tax payers. Heck there was a camera there .. you young technology all knowing students have heard of youtube, video (audio) streaming, peer to peer ect.?
Forgive me if I'm wrong, as an impartial observer with no ties to the University of Windsor whatsoever (I only read about it in the paper recently), but isn't it silly for the UWSA to be partisan at this juncture in time?
You're donating money to WUFA to keep the strike going, yet on the other hand you expect the University to listen to your demands? Not to mention that this comes after a long history of student protests that have demanded tuition freezes and decreases.
So you want highly paid teachers and great faculty but with lower tuition rates and expenses? While at the same time Windsor is experiencing one of the worst economic depressions in its history?
- excellent quote. I've noted that everyone's comments, of course, speak directly to the strike. I want to speak to the dedication of the UWSA executive. It never seems to be what an exec signs up for...its a campus police strike, its a dress code, its a pub closing, its a faculty strike...what the executive do, what the executive go through to try to lead the student body is very difficult at times. I was a UWSA executive at one time and I would like to say that your team is doing a fantastic job. The UWSA executive are leading the students in the best way they can - everyone would be dually complaining if we had a silent executive full of inaction. You're doing a good just just try to keep at it~ the strike will end...eventually...
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