U of W tries to make up for lost time - Profs, librarians ratify new deal
Classes resume this morning at the University of Windsor after professors and librarians voted 91 per cent in favour of a new contract Saturday that will provide what amounts to a 16 per cent increase over three years, bringing to an end a contentious 17-day strike.
Quinn Pierce, a second-year psychology student, said Sunday he was elated when he heard that faculty approved a new contract.
“I was jumping up and down,” he said. “I’m happy to finally be back in class, doing what I’m supposed to be doing and not wasting my time in my parents’ basement.”
Members of the Windsor University Faculty Association — about 1,000 professors and librarians — approved the three-year deal and also voted 88 per cent in favour of back-to-work terms at a four-hour ratification meeting at the Fogolar Furlan Club.
“We will be in the classrooms on Monday,” said WUFA president Brian E. Brown.
“We will be teaching. We will be there for our students and I think that is one of the reasons why the vote was as high as it was, percentage-wise, in favour of both the ratification and the return to work.
“Given the length of time that this meeting took, you know that there was an awful lot of discussion going on in terms of not only the agreement, but also the return-to-work protocol.”
University president Alan Wildeman said Sunday the final deal is a compromise by both sides to end the strike and get the university’s 16,000 students back to classes.
The last offer from administration before the strike provided for wage increases of three, three and four per cent, plus annual “progress through the ranks” increases of $1,000, $1,000 and $1,750.
PTRs are something standard in Ontario universities to recognize the progression in expertise and experience by faculty. That previous offer added up to 14 per cent over three years, according to administration.
Wildeman said the compromise offer faculty approved provided for wage increases that were actually slightly less — three, three and three per cent — but offered to bring the PTRs up to slightly above what they had been in the previous contract. Faculty are getting $2,277, $2,357 and $2,439. The total package adds up to slightly more than 16 per cent over three years, Wildeman said.
“We ended up spending more than we felt we could … but nevertheless we feel it’s something we’ll be able to manage.”
Brown said classes will resume as scheduled beginning at 8:30 a.m. but there will still be details about making up for lost time to be ironed out.
“In terms of lost time, each instructor will meet with their heads, with their deans, to go over in terms of what exactly the course content will be,” said Brown.
“They are going to have to make sure that our students’ lives aren’t disrupted too much as a result of this strike.”
Rachel Lee, a first-year biology student at U of W, said she was relieved to hear the good news but “still very, very upset” about the lost class time.
“There is so much material we were supposed to cover in the last two weeks,” Lee said Sunday, when she returned to Windsor after visiting family in London during the strike.
