The tentative agreement has been ratified. All picketers are recalled to work for their next scheduled shift.

The bargaining team and University representatives have come to a tentative settlement. Ratification vote Sunday July 17th at 7pm in the Science building N1001.

Help support 926 members on strike defending good jobs at Wilfrid Laurier University

WHERE:  75 University Avenue West, Waterloo

PICKETING SCHEDULE

Wednesday July 13, 2016

7:00 am – 5:00 pm

Special Guest: Catherine Fife, MPP Waterloo NDP – 11:45am

Thursday July 14, 2016

7:00 am – 5:00 pm

Charles Fleury, National Secretary-Treasurer, is joining the picket line  from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Friday July 15, 2016

7:00 am – 5:00 pm

Shut the Campus Down Day Rally – led by Fred Hahn, CUPE Ontario Division  – 11am

UNIVERSITIES WORK BECAUSE WE DO!

Unions helped build a strong middle class in this country, with decent wages, benefits and pensions. But those gains are steadily slipping away along with union membership itself.

Just 29 per cent of Canadian employees belonged to a union in 2014, according to Statistics Canada. Changes in the economy, such as the decline in manufacturing jobs over the past few decades, mean that the percentage of union members in the workforce has steadily fallen since 1981, when nearly 38 per cent were unionized.

Young people particularly are shut out. In 2012, less than 15 per cent of employees aged 17 to 24 belonged to a union. But 35 per cent of people aged 55 to 64 did.

This is the big-picture backdrop for the strike involving 110 unionized custodians, grounds workers and tradespeople who work at Wilfrid Laurier University’s campus in Waterloo.

The scenario facing these unionized workers, about half of whom are custodians, is sadly familiar.

(Full disclosure: I taught communication studies and English courses part-time at Laurier for many years. I no longer teach there, but will belong to the faculty union until 2018.)

The university proposes that existing custodians would keep their $21-an-hour jobs. But new positions — created when someone leaves or when new hires are needed because of expansion on campus — would not be unionized.

Instead, these jobs would be contracted out to a private company. Not only would the workers not belong to a union, they would be paid far less than people doing exactly the same work in the same workplace.

The union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, says the university already hired nine non-union custodians for a new building on University Avenue, and those workers are paid $12.90 an hour.

You can’t raise a family on that. Even a single person can barely live on it.

Laurier is not the first employer to propose a two-tiered agreement in which recently hired workers do the same job as their colleagues who have been there longer, but for less money and worse working conditions. Plenty of workplaces now have these arrangements.

But should a university be different?

Jim Butler, Laurier’s vice-president: finance and administration, said in a statement that any agreement “must be in the best interests of the institution and its students.”

Didn’t he leave someone out?

In part because we expect a lot of them, universities are possibly the most privileged institutions we have.

Government funding is plentiful (just check the Ontario “sunshine list” if you want to see the salaries of professors and administrators).

There’s no shortage of customers, and there is always plenty of money for innovative research and new strategies.

What there isn’t money for, apparently, are living wages for the people who mop the floors and clean the toilets.

Not everyone has what it takes to get a PhD in computer science. If we want to live in a society that is compassionate as well as smart, we have to make sure that all kinds of people can earn a decent living.

If Wilfrid Laurier University, from its relatively comfortable position, can’t or won’t show us how this can be done, who will?

ldamato@therecord.com

What is it, truly, that adds to a university’s “global reputation?”

Custodial workers at Wilfrid Laurier University have gone on strike, and the university administration has done its best to construct itself as the epitome of a reasonable employer. Thus, they point out, no current employees will lose their jobs. That’s true, but then that’s what employers always propose when they put in place problematic workplace policies, and what it really means is that the union, and current employees, care more about future employees than the administration.

Most importantly, the administration says that contracting out will get things done more cheaply — which of course is also true, and will always be true, when people are paid less and get fewer if any benefits.

Still, Laurier is facing a structural deficit, so aren’t job-destroying “efficiencies” justified? In the end, your answer here, I suggest, will depend on how you come down on the issue of why a structural deficit exists, and this, in turn, requires us to consider something that is just never part of the discussion.

About 10 years ago, Laurier decided to move from being a “Primarily Undergraduate” university to a “Comprehensive” university (the formal change in the Maclean’s Survey occurred in 2011). And what did this shift mean? Partly, it meant a proliferation of graduate programs. Why? Because graduate programs are key to “building Laurier’s global reputation” (that’s a quote from the report on Graduate Student Enrolment presented to Laurier’s board governors last month).

Did the province really need to pay for another Comprehensive University, especially one just down the street from a Comprehensive University (the University of Waterloo) with an outstanding reputation? Not sure that the public — and in particular the taxpaying public — ever got to weigh in on that.

Some of the increased costs were capital expenses associated with some graduate programs, but a lot of the increase was associated with the salaries needed to attract the professors who staff these programs. And even a quick look at the 2016 Sunshine list will give you a good idea of just how high some of those faculty salaries are.

The drive to sail in the same waters as the University of Waterloo has also been accompanied by an increase in highly paid administrators. An example: We used to have a single Dean of Students. That one position has now become three: a Dean of Students at each campus (Waterloo and Brantford) and a vice-president of Student Affairs — whose combined salaries on the 2016 list is over $450K. I know all three people currently in those positions, and I have no hesitation in saying that all three are talented and dedicated. The point is simply that “one” became “three” and that the salary costs alone are high (especially given what the administration says it will save through its contracting out proposals).

The complicating factor in the case of professorial salaries is, of course, tenure. Yes, I know, tenure protects academic freedom, the right to seek the truth without fear of losing your job. And yes, this can be a valuable resource in promoting collegial governance. Certainly, I’ve relied on it myself a number of times over my career. But this does not negate other truths. First, a lot of professors will never make use of academic freedom, and I’ve always thought (OK, this is whimsical) that for some, if a truly controversial idea popped into their head, they’d faint.

Mainly, though, although everyone denies it, the reality is that tenure is de facto job security. True, universities across North American can and have found ways to dismiss troublesome professors, but this is rare — and a reason not to be troublesome. The bottom line, though, is that addressing budgetary issues by going after the tenured faculty salary mass is difficult if not impossible.

And so what do universities do? What many employers do: Go after the employees with the least power to resist.

It might be nice to live in a world where letting notions of social justice guide employment policies would add as much to a university’s “global reputation” as graduate programs, but we’re not there yet. Still, this is not to say we couldn’t get there, or at least try.

For example, two years ago exactly, McMaster University made a similar attempt to contract out custodial services. It almost happened, but a strong and principled faculty counteroffensive caused them to rethink that plan. A letter circulated to faculty by Don Wells, in McMaster’s Department of Labour Studies, pointed out that custodial workers were “especially vulnerable in our increasingly precarious labour markets (being) recent immigrants, women, single parents, racialized workers, etc.” and went on to say that notwithstanding McMaster’s financial problems “Those who are at the lowest end of Mac’s pay scale should have the highest priority in meeting their needs and those of their families.” Good points, and, as I say, the university relented.

There’s been some resistance offered by faculty here at Laurier, but it seems limited, and I fear that the erosion of reasonably-paid custodial jobs for vulnerable people will be another cost that will have to be chalked up to Laurier’s decision to pursue a vision it cannot afford.

Michael Carroll is a professor in the Department of Sociology at Wilfrid Laurier University. He recently completed a five-year year term as Laurier’s Dean of Arts.

CUPE goes on strike at Wilfrid Laurier University

CUPE Local 926 at Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) has gone on strike to oppose the imposition of terms giving the university freedom to contract out unionized work to poverty wage contractors.

Through negotiations it was discovered that WLU has already signed a multi-year contract with GDI Integrated Facility Services for the new Lazaridis building. GDI is one of North America’s largest corporations that provides facility services. GDI specializes in commercial janitorial, installation, maintenance and repair of HVAC-R, mechanical, electrical systems, damage restoration, as well as janitorial products manufacturing and distribution.

GDI would be able to contract all work currently provided by Local 926, not just cleaning services. From all indications, GDI employees make half of Local 926 members’ wages, and without benefits or pension.

Quick Facts:

• The entire cost to WLU Local 926 members (including wages, benefits, pensions) is less than 2% of WLU total yearly revenues.
• In 2015-16, WLU had a 21% increase in first-year student enrolment, whose fees make-up the majority of WLU revenues.
• WLU Faculty Association’s accountants have shown that the university has had budget surpluses for 10 years.
• The new Lazaridis Building is made up entirely of contract custodians from GDI Integrated Facility Services who are paid approx $13/hr, no benefits or pension.
• The 9 contracted cleaners at Lazaridis building only save WLU $15,134.50 a year each.
• Goal of WLU Administration is to outsource the lowest paid workers on campus to contract workers making poverty wages (without benefits) to save pennies on the dollar.
• WLU Administration has used aggressive private sector negotiation tactics and fear to drive division between different job classification of members of Local 926.

To find out more, please visit:

http://cpress.org/leftnews/news-item-13

Attention all members: It has been agreed that CUPE will pay for employee’s extended health, dental and life insurance premiums while on the picket line. If you have any questions, please ask a picket captain, or a member of the executive.

Anne-Marie Ethier
Audit Partner
Deloitte Canada

Dear Ms. Ethier,

Re: Deloitte and Contracting Out at Laurier University

I am writing to you as CUPE National is a long time client of Deloitte. CUPE is concerned that recent decisions at Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) will have repercussions for Deloitte and other partners of the WLU’s Lazaridis Institute.

As you might know, Deloitte has many direct and indirect associations with WLU and the Lazaridis Institute. The new chair of WLU board, John Bowey, was previously a Deloitte executive and in 2011 Deloitte prepared the Enterprise Risk Management report that set in motion the budgeting priorities that have lead to the current employment issues at WLU.

In addition, WLU has an MBA program that has students who work at and with Deloitte and have associate professors and instructors who work at Deloitte. Recently, WLU had a scholarship paid for by Deloitte and WLU has developed programs in business economics/professional programs geared to providing professional services organizations like Deloitte, a stream of ready graduates. There was also recent announcement of a partnership between Deloitte and the Lazaridis Institute to support growth of Canadian tech firms in the Waterloo area.

CUPE does not see how it makes good business sense for a leading WLU technology institute to be promoting high paying technology jobs with Deloitte’s support, but at the same time paying their own cleaners poverty wages.

During negotiations, CUPE Local 926 who represents skilled trades, grounds and custodial workers at WLU discovered WLU’s medium-term plan is to replace as many Local 9261 s members’ jobs as possible with low-paid contractors. Throughout negotiations, WLU has refused to discuss any terms that would stop the contracting-out.

Even an attempt by the union to protect minimum numbers covered by the Collective Agreement were rejected without reason.

According to numbers provided by WLU, the nine contracted cleaners at Lazaridis building only save WLU $15,000 a year each for a total of approximately $136,000. WLU revenues in 2014 were $333,149,000 meaning the university is saving only 0.04% of its budget by driving cleaners into poverty. WLU Faculty Association’s accountants have shown the university has had budget surpluses for ten years and the salary of the president of WLU is over $370,000 a year.

It would be unfortunate if Deloitte was impacted by the public campaign against WLU’s employment practices.

I would ask that Deloitte do everything within it’s power to encourage WLU to come to a fair resolution of these issues before a labour disruption occurs.

Sincerely,

CHARLES FLEURY
National Secretary-Treasurer

Max Blouw
President and Vice-Chancellor
Wilfrid Laurier University
202 Regina Street
Waterloo, ON N2J 3B6

Dear Max,

On behalf of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) and the 17,000 full-time and contract university professors and academic librarians we represent at 28 member associations across the province of Ontario, I am writing to urge you to return to the bargaining table with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 926, negotiate in good faith, and reach a fair deal.

The custodians, groundskeepers, and tradespeople who are members of CUPE Local 926 do important work that keeps Wilfrid Laurier University running. Threatening to impose a contract, while publicly discussing contracting out the jobs of the workers you are ostensibly negotiating with, is an excessively aggressive approach to bargaining.

If continued, this bullying tactic will place Wilfrid Laurier University in a small group of rogue employers in the university sector. Terms and conditions have been imposed on academic workers only twice at Ontario universities. In both cases, the imposition of a contract did irreparable damage to labour relations at the institution, and harmed the reputation of the universities among their peers. Faculty at universities across Ontario have condemned this approach to bargaining wherever it has occurred.

OCUFA is aware that bargaining is also underway with our contract faculty colleagues at Wilfrid Laurier University. We expect a respectful and fair approach to bargaining across the university sector and hope that you will commit to upholding this standard when negotiating with all employee groups on your campus.

A recent public opinion poll found that 94 per cent of Ontarians expect universities to be model employers in their communities. Now is a time to support more good jobs for Ontarians, not fewer. Faculty across the province support workers at Wilfrid Laurier University in their effort to defend good jobs. We hope that you will reconsider your approach to this issue and work with them to come to a fair settlement. Sincerely,

Judy Bates
President, OCUFA

July 6, 2016

NOTICE TO ALL ACTIVISTS:

Allan Savard, President of CUPE 926 is inviting all activists to join him in standing up for collective bargaining rights.

Earlier this week, Wilfrid Laurier University management again tried to force the CUPE Local 926 Bargaining Committee negotiating on behalf of custodians, trades and grounds into accepting a contract that would give them the freedom to contract out unionized work, almost at will.

Laurier is also threatening to impose their own terms and conditions over every CUPE 926 member if we don’t agree. These are unprecedented tactics by a bully employer who thinks the rules don’t apply to them.

We cannot allow the University’s bullying and punitive measures to go unchallenged.

Our best defence is to stand strong, in solidarity.

That is why Brother Savard is encouraging you to join your sisters and brothers for an information picket on campus this Friday, July 8. Starting at 7 am and until at least 10 am, we will raise awareness against threats and bully tactics.

We’ll assemble at 7 a.m., at the corner of Regina and University, Waterloo and then make our way first to the administrative buildings before marching through the campus. This is an opportunity to raise awareness and raise the alarm over Wilfrid Laurier’s threats and bullying.

CUPE Local 926 will be joined by supporters from CUPE Locals across southwestern Ontario, as well as Fred Hahn and others from CUPE Ontario, other unions in the K-W area, along with campus and community allies.

Let’s stand together with our allies and show WLU we are united and prepared to defend our collective agreement rights.