Momin Rahman and Alison Hearn are guest editors of the 2025 special issue of the CAUT Journal, Shaping Equity as Labour Justice: successes, stumbles and setbacks. Dr. Rahman is a sociology professor at Trent University and Dr. Hearn is a professor in the faculty of information and media studies at Western University.
Why focus on labour justice, not just equity as the theme?
Rahman: The idea came from a post-pandemic retreat discussion, while Alison and I served on the CAUT Executive Committee. We noticed how people saw equity as separate from core union work. We wanted to reposition it as an important part of the broader labour justice movement.
Hearn: Yes. I was chair of the Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee. Momin was co-chair of the Equity Committee. Indeed, we noticed that people treat equity and academic freedom as opposing values. We wanted to challenge that framing. Our position is that equity strengthens academic freedom, and vice versa.
Did any article shift your perspective on equity?
Hearn: Two articles stood out to me as eye-opening. The first, by Katherine Breward, critiques how universities handle disability inclusion, often reactively through accommodations rather than proactively through inclusive design. The second, by Brian Green, Derek Sahota and Jennifer Scott, reveals how the standard bargaining for percentage-based salary increases can unintentionally deepen wage inequities.
Rahman: Breward’s article on inclusive design made me think about how colleagues with disabilities, especially those with invisible conditions like neurodivergence, may feel unsafe showing their identities due to fear of stigma. It was a powerful reminder that equity is an ongoing process, not a fixed outcome. We have all got a lot to learn from our disabled colleagues.
Tell us about a moment that shaped your view of equity.
Hearn: I think the Black Lives Matter era, particularly the online #BlackInTheIvoryTower campaign, deepened my understanding of equity. Racialized academics shared powerful personal stories during the campaign. They highlighted structural inequalities in a visceral and accessible way.
The works of Indigenous colleagues like David Newhouse and the CAUT Indigenous Working Group further cemented that decolonization requires structural change. Equity is not just about inclusion but about transforming the very foundations of academic institutions.
Rahman: Two pivotal experiences reinforced for me how entrenched biases shape academia, even in spaces that claim to be progressive.
The first happened in Scotland during my undergraduate graduation. My family wore traditional South Asian attire. The administration later used a photo of us from the event in a university brochure under the “international students” section. I was born in the UK. This incident revealed a deep-seated assumption that racialized individuals could not be British, prompting my early reflections on identity and bias.
Decades later, I was now a senior professor and expert in racialization, gender and sexuality. While serving on a hiring committee for a position explicitly focused on women of colour, the committee tried to hire a white candidate who did not meet the advertised research criteria. I objected, citing bias and misalignment with the job’s equity goals. Though I was acting under and protected by unionized hiring processes, I still faced invalidation from colleagues.
How can unions bargain for equity?
Hearn: This current issue of the CAUT Journal offers practical, concrete strategies for embedding equity into academic labour practices. Examples include extending promotion and tenure timelines for disabled faculty, rethinking salary structures to reduce inequity, and challenging the performative equity rhetoric of university administrations. Many articles emphasize bargaining tactics and educational efforts to show how equity enhances productivity, teaching, research quality and student experience.
Rahman: I think many faculty unions have not fully embraced the foundational step of equity work: open dialogue on how equity policies help everyone, not just marginalized groups. When representation in the profession does not reflect the broader population, something is clearly wrong. Academics thrive on self-reflection and diverse perspectives. Excluding certain groups limits research quality and innovation. Equity enhances our collective knowledge, strengthens peer review, and expands our capacity to understand and change the world.
What is your response to concerns that equity bargaining divides academic staff?
Hearn: On politically diverse campuses like Western University, resistance to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) exists and we need to make a pragmatic case for it. We need to show how it improves research, grants, curriculum and student outcomes. People assume that merit is a neutral standard, but historical and social contexts shape it. Expanding our understanding of what is meritorious enriches scholarship for everyone.
Rahman: It is an assumption that equity bargaining is divisive. Equity is about creating fairer participation for all. It is not about taking anything away from dominant groups. When unions bargain for equity, whether in salaries, workloads or promotions, they are expanding labour rights across the board. Addressing bias for one group often improves conditions for all. The key to avoiding division is framing equity as a collective gain, not a zero-sum game.
How do we defend labour justice in a troubling global political environment?
Rahman: Despite pressures like economic hardship and complex migration politics, unionized academic staff must speak out to support publicly funded universities and protect academic freedom, especially when it may seem risky or threaten careers to do so. Now is the time for academics to stand up, speak out, support one another, and educate students on global issues. Unions have the power to challenge injustices and defend academic freedom.
Hearn: Academic staff in Canadian universities and colleges are in a strong position to fight for labour justice due to high unionization rates. We have a foundation for resistance. What is concerning is increasing government intervention, threats to university autonomy, and an uncertain global political environment. However, we should always prioritize equity in our bargaining practices, including salary, promotion and tenure, because a more inclusive scholarly community strengthens collective power.
