Okay, I know that the current executive of AUFA is not enamoured with the Association of Nova Scotia University Teachers. It costs AUFA $900 a month in dues for membership. And our exec is wondering what we’re getting for our money. I already had a very good idea what we were getting from ANSUT meetings I attended in my first year as AUFA Grievance Officer, but I hope the picture became clearer to the exec on Tuesday morning when we were joined on the picket line by representatives from Universite Sainte-Anne.
        University Sainte-Anne is the smallest university in Nova Scota, and its faculty are undoubtedly the poorest paid. They endured a very long struggle with their own administration quite recently and made significant progress by the end of it. But even with the progress they made, they still have a long way to go to catch up with Acadia Faculty. So given the obvious disparities between their newest contract and our recently expired contract–put more bluntly, given our relative privilege in comparison with theirs–why would they show up to support us? And it wasn’t just moral support they were providing. The smallest school in ANSUT also brought with them a $2,000 cheque.
        The answer to this question speaks to the purpose of ANSUT as I saw it during my Grievance Officer days. All universities in Nova Scotia are dependent upon each other (Okay, I admit, Dalhousie is the exception in this because they’re too good for the rest of us). What happens during negotiations at one university in Nova Scotia either helps or hurts the cause at other universities. What happens during negotiations at Acadia, then, determines what other universities in the province will be able to negotiate, determines what they can aspire to. That became abundantly clear to me at the ANSUT strategy sessions I attended. We all have to bargain hard, because we’re not just bargaining for ourselves. We’re bargaining for every university in the province (Dal excluded). Universite Sainte-Anne Faculty understand that perhaps better than all the other members in ANSUT.
        As to the question of ANSUT dues…if other members of our group are as generous as our smallest member, I think we’ll begin to see the dividends of our investment not only in strategic terms, but also in financial ones.
        Thanks Universite Sainte-Anne!

There was another reason that I had difficulty getting out of bed on Tuesday morning. I was getting up earlier than usual for a special picket detail.
        On Monday evening I had gotten word that we were going to be setting up a guerilla picket (my terminology, not to be blamed on Mike Dennis) at 6 am the next morning on Westwood Avenue. Why on Westwood Ave., which is quite clearly not on the main thoroughfare? And why so bloody early? Well, that’s the primary access point for the construction workers who are building the new biology building on campus.
        I had gotten word late in the week before the strike that the many of the workers on the site would not cross a picket line. AUFA’s membership in NUCAUT, a Canadian Labour Congress affiliate, pretty well guaranteed that workers in unions that were also affiliated with the CLC would not cross. Of course, construction workers tend to be very strong union supporters even at the worst of times–for very good reason, I might add–and are therefore loath to cross picket lines at any time. So we had reason to assume that even those workers who weren’t affiliated with the CLC would refuse to cross our line.
        I had passed this information on to Mike Dennis, the head of the picket committee, on Friday. And after consulting with the executive and getting permission from the local police, he had decided that we would set up a small strike force–in my terms, a guerilla picket–at the bottom of Westwood on the second day of the strike. We would show the BOG what we could do, should we feel the need.
        Clearly, keeping the faculty out of the classrooms doesn’t cost the university any money. Indeed, it saves them about $400,000 per week. But delays in construction on campus could be very costly. And, of course, the BOG had recently demonstrated how much they valued the national standards of their infrastructure with a $4 million dollar investment in Raymond Field. So stopping work on one of their latest pet projects, a multimillion dollar Biology Building–that is absolutely useless without us in it, I would add–could get their attention in a way that stopping all academic activities on campus might not.
        Coordinating the early morning shift was a bit difficult. I wanted to be there at around 5:45 am and walk until 6:30 when Richard Cunningham would replace me on the line. That way I could get home in time to drive my wife, Gisele, to work. After dropping her off at 7 am, I would return to the line in time to replace Rich, who would head home to give his wife, Joy, the car so that she could get to work. After consultations with HQ, however, all that changed. The plan was to arrive at 6:30. This meant that I wouldn’t be there when things started, but I promised Rich that I would be there to replace him as soon as possible after dropping Gisele at work.
        Rich arrived at around 6 am himself, and he was joined by Vernon Provencal and Jim Sacouman, two of our negotiators, and Eric Alcorn at around 6:15. By the time I arrived, shortly after 7:00, they had been joined by a student supporter and Rick Mehta. And by that time, there were workers standing in the street at the entrance to the construction site. We didn’t hear any work going on, though noise by-laws in Wolfville allow construction to begin at 7 am, and though work had started by that time on previous days.
        Apparently, that gathering was the result of some confusion. Because we were so far from the actual entrance to the site (that was where the police said we could go), the construction workers weren’t sure whether we were actually picketing the site. They soon sent a representative down to find out what we were doing, and Jim explained the situation to them.
        Poor Rich. He left shortly after I arrived, too early to see the first carload of construction workers leaving. They stopped on their way to tell us that they wouldn’t be working the site that day. We were overjoyed as it seemed that our guerrilla picket had been successful. Work on the biology building had stopped.
        It was a temporary joy, however. Their union reps spoke to the people in HQ and explained that they would be very willing to honour our picket and shut the site down, but they also wanted us to understand the cost to them and their members. As one union rep explained to Peter Williams, President of AUFA, sheet metal workers won’t cross a picket line to save their lives. And that means that they actually lose $350/day out of their own pockets when they honour the line. When the AUFA executive learned what our actions could cost these men and their families, they decided to pull back our lines. Though initially we had been given the option of slowing down work by one hour a day, then disbanding so that the men wouldn’t be forced to cross a picket line, that option proved unviable. I gather that the sheet metal workers in particular would refuse to cross for the entire day as a matter of principle.
        I’m sure pulling back our line was the right decision, though I have to admit I was very frustrated by it. Still am to some extent. The whole idea of joining the NUCAUT as I understood it was to join a larger labour movement. And when you join such a movement, you are saying that you will make sacrifices for the good of your brothers and sisters in other unions–that is, by not crossing their picket lines–in the hopes that they will reciprocate. You join because you understand that there is power in numbers. You join because you believe in the importance of protecting people and improving their lives in a world that reduces everyone to a line item on an accounting sheet.
        As I write this, I realize that these principles were actually behind the executive’s decision to pull back our line at this point. AUFA believes in protecting people and improving their lives. The exec has decided not to ask the construction workers to support our strike in these early days out of respect: because we understand the sacrifices we will be asking them to make at some later date. But first we have to show that we’re worthy of their sacrifice ourselves by holding the line.
        Okay, I’ve convinced myself. Thanks to Peter Williams and the rest of the exec for putting people first.

        My alarm woke me out of a deep sleep on Day Two of the AUFA’s strike. Though I had been tired after my morning shift on Monday, I wasn’t able to sleep when I got home. Instead, I spent the day listening to CBC radio and surfing the web to see what kind of coverage the strike was getting. And the results were very satisfying.
        Andrew Biro, AUFA’s chief spokesperson, was everywhere. I read his statements in the Chronicle Herald, I listened to his sound-bites on CBC radio, and I watched his interviews on CBC and CTV television. The message was consistent wherever he appeared: “This strike is about the quality of education at Acadia University.” Of course, the media focussed mainly on financial issues, as they always do, but even there we looked very good. Andrew just brought out the facts: faculty are paid at 20% below national averages at Acadia, and 6% below regional averages, all while our students pay the highest tuition in the country, and all while the faculty and students consistently win the institution a top three spot in the Maclean’s University ranking for undergraduate universities.
        Of course, there is another area where Acadia has more recently achieved national standards: on its astroturf. Well, not on it really, as the Axemen aren’t making great headway this year, but in it. The University has just given Raymond Field a $4 million dollar upgrade from real to artificial turf (apparently it’s more environmentally friendly?). So now we have the same turf as the New England Patriots and the best field in Canada. This new investment should be great for attracting student athletes, don’t you think? Of course, those of us concerned with less important aspects of university life, like academic credibility, need not concern ourselves with national standards.
        I think I can officially report that Acadia has arrived in the postmodern era. We have grass that isn’t grass, but that meets national standards because it isn’t grass. And we have professors who are professors because they have met national and international standards to get accreditation, but somehow don’t really meet the national and international standards that are acknowledged on our degrees because we live in and around Wolfville. When asked by a CTV reporter to address the fact that Acadia Faculty are paid 20% below national averages and 6% below regional averages, Acadia spokesperson Scott Roberts responded by calling into question the qualifications of the entire Faculty: “Well,” he began hesitantly, “averages are constructed…. They depend on how many of the faculty have MAs or are working towards their PhDs.” Last I checked, a terminal degree was a contractual requirement for full time work in the teaching faculty at Acadia. And the teaching faculty makes up the vast majority of all faculty.
        Did I mention that Andrew Biro did very well in his interviews. Not to undermine Andrew, but in the face of such an underwhelming challenge, it’s little wonder. Mr. Roberts would try to compensate for his lackluster performance the next day, answering questions concerning Gail’s departure to China on the eve of the strike with a brilliant repartee: “She’s available by cell phone.” Yep, that about covers it. We have a chief administrator who’s phoning it all in.

More to come….