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appropriately contained in the Langara Faculty Association Bargaining
unit, but agrees with Faculty to have the Labour Relations Board
arbitrate the dispute.

1974

April: Labour Relations Board rules Division Chairmen are contained in the
Langara Faculty bargaining unit. Incisive document produced to
support decision, under chairmanship of Paul Weiler.

1974

Sept.: Facing our first major test as a union, supporting the V.I.A. as part
of an effort to maintain essential aspects of working conditions for
College faculty, conditions which have a direct affect on the quality
of the learning situation.

An examination of the historical record suggests that the College Council
supported by the Executive Office, has been attempting to reorganize Vancouver Commun-
ity College according to an arbitrary and mechanistic model that it has never openly
acknowledged or publicly debated.

This model more closely resembles a factory than an institution of higher
learning, valuing efficiency of production over the effectiveness of human relation-
ships. But a system that manufactures consumer products is not best suited to foster
learning. It is those human relationships that scientific study after scientific study
has shown are most crucial to genuine learning. Instructors at Langara have never lost
sight of the fact that teachers need time to establish effective contact with their
students and that time is needed to keep up with the latest developments in their fields
of study. A college operating on the mechanistic, factory model would minimize such
time in the interests of so-called efficiency, and, although the yearly financial state-
ment may look impressive, the real cost to the quality education would go unrecorded.

So while the immediate effects of the V.I.A. strike may be distressing to both students
and faculty at Langara, hopefully it is clear that those effects are small in comparison
to what thousands of students may have to face at Vancouver Community College in years
to come.

In supporting the V.I.A. position that their dispute can be resolved by
arbitration which we expect to be sensitive to educational needs, the Langara Faculty
Association believes it supports the future.