Situation in Higher Education in Ontario

- Interview, Colleen Burke -

Post-secondary students rally in Toronto, January 18, 2020, against Ford government's cuts to education funding.

Workers' Forum spoke with Colleen Burke, President of USW Local 1998 about what is going on at U of T and in higher education settings in general. The administrative and technical staff at the University of Toronto, represented by United Steelworkers Local 1998, are staff who keep higher education running. Senior management at U of T and throughout higher education, are quick to say "thank you for all you do," but are arrogantly deciding what "back-to-work" protocols will be, while workers are given no say whatsoever and left to be reactive to management decrees. 

Workers' Forum: Let's start with a brief introduction.

Colleen Burke: Sure. I am President of USW Local 1998. We represent over 8,000 members -- administrative and technical staff at the University of Toronto, Victoria University, University of St. Michael's College and U of T School.

Our members have been working from home since about March 20. The university is still functioning. While most buildings are closed, there are a few exceptions such as residence buildings, health services for those on campus, and so forth.

It’s been a huge transition to get everybody working from home and of course there are laboratory technicians, food service people and others who aren’t working because their work cannot be done from home. U of T did guarantee pay continuity up to April 30 even for those who could not work from home. A lot of contracts ran to April 30. Then there are those employed in summer kids camps or hired for eight weeks of convocation employment and so forth.  We also have about 3,000 – 3,500 casuals and the University also extended guaranteed pay continuity to our casual members as well.  That was great. 

We've seen temporary layoffs too in a few departments. About 70 full-time people were given 13-week layoffs. They will qualify for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and again, the university is stepping up with an additional $1,000 per month and paying both portions of their medical benefits.

WF: What have been the main issues the union and your membership are dealing with?

CB: Before the closure many were worried and wanted to work from home but they were prevented from doing so in most cases. It wasn't until the province declared an emergency that working from home got solved. Up to that time we were very busy with health and safety issues. Even now we are dealing with health and safety concerns of members providing services to students on campus, in residences, health services for students, IT people etc. For people working from home, child care is a big issue. Managers are leaning on staff working and parenting from home. Officially, the university position is that managers should be flexible but still some managers are very harassing of our members. Our members are also worried about layoffs. Some departments are ordering people to take vacation time. The union agreed as a way to mitigate layoffs.

WF: Is there talk about how you will transition to return to work?

CB: The health and safety plan for return to work is a big issue for the union. The University put out a roadmap statement on return to work. Our Joint Health and Safety Committees were never included in sorting out the health plan. The University retains that as a management prerogative. It is the same with protocols for return to work. It is bound to result in all kinds of complaints after the fact. We have a full time H&S officer but it is not going to be easy. USW 1998 is engaging with other unions and others on campus to work out appropriate protocols for return to work in the various work settings. This is how it is happening across board for all post-secondary institutions I think.

USW Local 1998 is working within the University of Toronto Employees Associations and Unions (UTEAU), an informal umbrella group of student unions, labour unions and faculty associations on all three campuses of the University. We are working on a common document about our values, aspirations etc. in light of COVID-19, to identify our immediate demands of the university and more long-term demands of the province. Universities are underfunded as is, and the worry is what will happen after the immediate crisis is over?

Daycare is going to be another serious issue. About 70 per cent of our membership are women. Women are carrying and will carry the brunt of this problem. I know of one member who had to go on stress leave because working from home while parenting was too much. Some people shorten the work week by sprinkling in vacation time. Others may opt for part-time, if possible, because it is too much without child care.

How are people even going to get to and from work safely? People are justifiably concerned about taking the transit. Who is responsible for looking out for people's health on public transit? As things start up, it is going to be a very serious concern.

WF: Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?

CB: We are all very concerned about the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone in post-secondary is looking to what will happen in September. How many students will show up? How many international students will come? The reality here is that international students are seen as a cash cow. International student tuition accounts for about 20 per cent of U of T tuition revenue. How many will still pay through the nose for an online education experience, i.e. not in-class instruction.

There have been no federal funding announcements of support for post-secondary education. We want to see funding support to get through the impact of this pandemic. I know students want to see tuition cuts as well and I support that. But post-secondary education itself is going to have huge problems without additional funding. And when we come out of this are we going to see another round of austerity measures?

This year, 2020, is a collective bargaining year at the University of Toronto and all post-secondary workers are negotiating under the one per cent austerity measures imposed under Bill 124. Oddly, since the pandemic set in, that now just looks to be one among many problems we have to deal with.

This article was published in

Number 45 - June 30, 2020

Article Link:
Situation in Higher Education in Ontario - Interview, Colleen Burke

    

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