by Samuel Lapalme-Remis

The threat of job action is rearing its

gly, ugly head yet again. Members of
e Douglas College Faculty Association
DCFA) agreed on April 3 to proceed
ith job action as of Wednesday, April
10, unless they reach a new consensus
bvith the Post-Secondary Emptoyers
Association (PSEA) before that date.
he DCFA is part of the College Institute
ducator’s Association (CIEA), which
s comprised of eight other colleges in
he Lower Mainland that are also
moving toward job action.
' To hear DCFA President and
pokesperson Roslyn Dixon speak, such
a consensus does not appear likely. “I
feel that we are so far apart that we are
headed for a strike.”

A strike would come two days before
he end of regular classes, and ten days
before the end of examinations. Due to
e tremendous amount of uncertainty
aused by the danger ofa strike, students
are left not knowing whether or not they
should be preparing for exams. At best,
e threat of job action is only a severe
distraction from students’ studies. At
orst, it could lead to cancellation of
lasses, with four months of schoolwork
gone down the drain. There is no
p arantee that a ‘summer semester will

Dixon quickly goes on the offensive,
On the PSEA negotiations with the

 

they presented looks very much like the

months taking a good, positive approach,
taking a very calm, reasoned approach
so that these talks would reach fruition,
but they didn’t. Unless the employers’
side begins to work more realistically
bwith us, then I think that there’s a distinct
Be cosikahity ofastrike.” Dixon reportedly
labelled the latest offer by the PSEA as
‘insulting’ at the DCFA

meeting on April 3.

_ Guy Dalcourt,
Executive Director of the
PSEA, refuses’ to

respond: “We’re in the
middle of negotiation
and to reveal portions [of
the progress of
negotiations] or give
opinions is not really in
the best interest of those
negotiations.” Although
Dalcourt says little of
substance during our
interview, one gets the
eeling that he is
‘completely oblivious to
the threat of job action, as
if it were irrelevant to the
negotiations. His attitude
seems to be that if the
instructors strike, that’s
unfortunate, but it has
fnothing to do with him.

But back to Dixon’s assault. On James
Dorsey, the facilitator that the CIEA and
PSEA have jointly chosen to help
negotiations go smoothly and whose
eport is due on April 10: “He has not
!met one deadline.” On the Douglas
College administration’s lack of
‘involvement in the whole mess: “The
problem with the multi-institutional
discussions is that our own local
administration has been largely divorced
om the process. As far as the DCFA is
| concerned, they’ve been silent partners
| in this.” On the PSEA’s negotiations with
the British Columbia Government
|Employee’s Association (BCGEU),
which are also currently taking place:

IEA: “The employers’ proposal that

proposal they presented us with at the
end of January. Faculty have wasted two

“TThe BCGEU] are at the same kind of
table [as the CIEA] and talks have been
stopped by the employer’s side pleading
completion of ours.”

This is untrue, according to Prina
Marples, BCGEU chair of Douglas
College. “We are
bargaining with the
employers at this time
and everything is just
fine,” she says, returning
my call after having
spent the day in said
negotiations.

Roslyn Dixon thinks
that “the faculty will
support this job action.
They’re very much
aware that these are very
serious issues and that
this isn’t just about
getting a raise or just or
some small thing.”

Con Rea, psychology
instructor at DC, takes
exception to this
comment. As he puts it, “many faculty
feel that negotiations should continue.
Many feel that at this time of the
semester, it’s less than an optimal time
[for a strike],-as some of them put it. It
simply means that exams week will be.

disrupted, a late start next semester, all
of those things. It makes no sense
_ whatsoever, ©

   

“In the DCFA meeti that was held

Wednesday [April 3], there was amotion

put forth to escalate strike action without
specifying what that was. That could
mean anything or everything. That was
discussed and a vote was taken. Less
than 54% voted in favour and the rest
either voted against or abstained. It’s not
exactly an overwhelming vote and it’s
consistent with the marginal strike vote
that was held last year. I don’t think that’s

“As far as the DCFA is
concemed, [the DC
Administration has]

been a silent partner in
this.”

—Roslyn Dixon

(DCFA President)

a vote of confidence.

“They did not list on the agenda [for
the meeting] anything about taking a
vote of any kind. Presumably, more
people would have shown up if they’d
listed that on the agenda. About 126
people [showed up at the meeting].
That’s about a third of the faculty. The
people who show up are usually pro-
union and even with that, only 54%
voted Yes.

“The motion is a blank cheque, which
seems incredible to me. It is in essence
a blank cheque stating ‘do whatever you
want to do.’

“The facilitator is handing down a
report on Wednesday the 10th. We

bie Press

 

Oh Gawd, here we go again....

Douglas College faculty on the verge of a strike as talks falter

obviously should see what the
facilitator’s recommendations are and
then we should have the opportunity to
vote on whether or not we like it and
take it from there. To go out on strike
before we. have a chance to read it

doesn’t make much sense to me but it
appears to be what the motion that was
carried out at the meeting gave them the
power to do.”
Question: What doyou think the
“important issues” that Roslyn Dixon
talks about really are? :
Answer: “Well, I’m.not too sure
because it’s not really presented to us.
The buzz words are ‘job security,’
‘fairness,’ ‘the effect of technology,’

things like that. Presumably salary must

be in there somewhere. ‘Equity’ i
another word they used. What det
means specifically, I don’t know. One
person got up at the meeting and asked
“What are we doing this for, what are
we getting out of it?’ They just replied
that going on strike has always gotten
us stuff. I guess it’s a kind of ideological
battle. I can’t really
answer your question, I
try to answer it for
myself. It’s just not clear
to me what the issues are.
There’s a kind of
political agenda here and
it’s not being spelled
out.”

Question: I imagine
that if job action occurs,
it will be a full-blown
strike as opposed to a
rotating one.
correct?

Answer by Roslyn
Dixon: “We did not pin
it down. We are working
in collaboration with
eight other colleges.
What we said is that we
are looking at any and all
possibilities.”

Answer by Con Rea:
“It was said that. if
there’s a strike, it'll be a full-blown
strike. There wouldn’t be time to do
rotation.”

Any question about the various
possible scenarios in the event of a strike
is avoided by all. Roslyn Dixon states
that “I don’t know what the college
would do in the event of a strike. That
would be an administrative decision.”

OK then, let’s ask the administration.
Brad Barber, Director of
Communications: “It’s dangerous for me
to speculate when [the union] has a full
range of possibilities. We have to be
prepared to respond in quick fashion to
whatever happens and to do whatever
we can to limit impact on the students

Am I-

 

 

and the public.” It’s a nice answer, but it
doesn’t help you prepare for the next few
weeks, now does it?

Con Rea, less bound by the rules of
diplomacy than the others, suggests that
things could get quite drawn-out: “The

“One person got up at the [faculty]
meeting and asked “What are we
doing this for, what are we getting out
of it?’ They just replied that going on
strike had always gotten us stuff.”

person who put forth the motion [at the
DCFA meeting] said that it could be a
day, but it could be two months. If you
vote for this motion, that’s what you
have to be prepared for.” Apparently,
then, many instructors are prepared to
strike for two months.

What can students do? Roslyn Dixon
has a suggestion: “I certainly think that
students should be very concerned
because it’s at a very untimely stage in
the semester. Therefore, they should be
putting pressure through their politicians

and through the administration in the
college to get talks moving
productively.” Con Rea also has a
suggestion: “Students should tell their
teachers to get involved in union
activities.”

The Douglas
College Student
Society has a few
words to add to the
fray. Dave Seaweed,
Vice-President
External, says that
“we feel like we
have no control. All
we can do is create
the awareness.” He
points to DCSS
postings that state
that no student
should be expected
to cross picket lines
or be tested on
material taught
during strike days by -
rogue instructors.

“Tt makes sense, in a way, for them to
do this now because this is really going
to [hurt the government] but they’re
really screwing the students. That’s a big
problem. Why are the students always
the pawns?”

So why the hell did everything go so
wrong? Well, Roslyn Dixon says that
“part of the problem is that there hasn’t
been enough discussion on the issues by
both sides.” Oh really? And you’re going
on strike anyway?

WTR RSS TCT
Society Winter 1996

STH USL

 

 

 

 

Diane King
TREASURER
J aimieMcEvoy