CAUT Town Hall
Several provincial governments across the country are restricting collective bargaining rights and seeking to weaken the collective action of unions and academic staff associations. On August 26, CAUT hosted an on-line town hall looking at the more egregious attacks on workplace rights and offering strategies for how academic staff associations can challenge legislation and government interference in free collective bargaining.
Ricardo Acuna, President of the Academic Staff Association of the University of Alberta, discussed the efforts of the provincial Conservative government to undermine workers’ rights in the province. He noted that the former New Democratic Party government had strengthened labour rights in Alberta but that all the progress is being undone with Bill 32. This far-reaching legislation has a very broad definition of what constitutes “political activities” for a union and it makes secondary picketing illegal, among other things.
At the same time as attacking unions, the government is in the process of cutting 20% of post-secondary budgets. Both will have serious and lasting consequences. Dr. Acuna called for all post-secondary workers in Alberta to work in coalition with other sectors to seize the moment and organize.
Organizing is also top of mind for academic staff associations in Manitoba, which have joined forces to fight the austerity agenda of their Conservative government. Janel Morrill, past president of the University of Manitoba Faculty Association, said that it all started with the wage-freezing legislation adopted by the Pallister government in 2017. This legislation was struck down in court this June.
“This legislation had distorted the power dynamic because we had the feeling that the real decision-makers were not at the bargaining table”, noted Morrill. “It is also a terrible thing for the University, because the salaries have fallen, and they have lost professors to other institutions. It is hard, because we have to fight an ideology in addition to fighting austerity.”
For labour organizations in Ontario, the Manitoba decision comes at an opportune moment, noted lawyer Peter Englemann of Goldblatt Partners. Groups in Ontario are contesting two bills that interfere with collective bargaining. “It was a breath of fresh air. It is a breakthrough and will certainly assist with our challenge here in Ontario.”
CAUT’s Vice-President, Peter McInnis, discussed similar legislation in Nova Scotia and highlighted the local, regional and national work needed to fight austerity and protect rights. “We need to mobilize, build capacity and use our memberships. Our members have a great deal of expertise and diverse talents that we can pull together and help us in the fight. There is the legal route that is really important, but there is also the activism route and both need to be combined.”