A Heartfelt Thank-you from BUFA

Dick Henley, Brandon University Faculty Association

BUFA strike headquarters hosted a union Membership meeting on Monday afternoon; it was billed as a Q&A session, but we knew well that it would be a victory celebration. And celebrate we did, an hour and a half of speech-giving and ovation that included a brief synopsis of the contents of our new Collective Agreement, won through the staging of a 45-day strike. An outside observer who had knowledge of the contents of the CA might well wonder the reason for the cheery demeanour of the crowd. It is not as if the new CA would bestow riches upon the Membership, certainly. No, the celebration was about being part of a collective action that challenged established authority (the university administration, the local commercial media, and the provincial government) and emerged at the end of the struggle with BUFA very much intact. Very few Members defected across the picket lines.

BUFA’s place in the decision-making apparatus of Brandon University has been secured for another four years, the life of the new contract. It is doubtful that either Dr. Poff or her high priced antiunion lawyer Grant Mitchell will be on hand for the next bargaining round, but BU seems to have a propensity for hiring presidents whose chief ambition quickly turns to a desire to centralise authority over the work that we do, despite whatever they may indicate about intentions before their appointment. Unfortunately, this tendency exists in universities across the country. Indeed, it seems that ever since university presidents began to be paid CEO-like salaries, they have come to believe they should be able to wield the authority of a CEO.

Academic unions are indispensable to the defence of the public universities as we know them in Canada and I’m proud to be a BUFA Member, to have been part of a collective will that found expression through the strike action. Let us hope the union is able to sustain the strong support from its Membership that it now enjoys four years hence. I did picket duty on the line in Winnipeg. We all have our own personal conditions and circumstances that decide for us how we experienced our strike duties. In my own case, I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the line: great camaraderie; excellent weather; and regular visits of solidarity from our many UWFA supporters. A heartfelt thank you for your solidarity with our cause and the great company you provided. The six weeks fairly flew by.

And now it’s a scramble to catch up with teaching responsibilities. And I really should get back to it.