The Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association is preparing for its upcoming collective agreement negotiations with Wilfrid Laurier University, as the current agreement between the parties expires on Aug. 31.
The Laurier faculty members involved in the negotiations include contract teaching faculty who provide instruction in at least one university degree credit course and part-time professional librarians employed by the university across all campuses.
Ahead of the 90-day requirement set by the Ontario Labour Relations Act, The Contract Teaching Faculty and Part-time Librarian Negotiating Team will provide notice. “To protect the integrity of the process, these discussions are confidential between those delegated to the bargaining teams and their key advisors,” said Vanessa Barrasa, director of communities and issues management at Laurier.
Anne-Marie Allison, a contract faculty member in Laurier’s math department, said WLUFA had noticed that many students don’t even realize that almost half of their courses are taught by contract faculty.
“They’re different than technically what we call tenure-track faculty on the campus,” Allison said. “Contract faculty members get hired term by term, course by course, and often year after year after year.”
She said all contract faculty at Laurier hold a master’s degree or PhD, just like full-time professors. The main concern that part-time faculty members are noticing is whether they will continue to get work.
“We continue our work because we’re passionate about teaching. Some people do service, and some people do research, but neither of those things is paid. We’re only paid to teach,” Allison said. “Laurier is a gig employer.”
She explained that Laurier doesn’t listen to their concerns concerning curriculums and issues that affect students and their learning conditions. Allison reiterated that contract faculty at Laurier often teach half of the courses at the university and about half of the student population but only represent about five per cent of the university’s budget.
Each collective agreement aims to refine and improve existing terms. Executive director Terry Poirier said past negotiations focused on aspects like job security, compensation, access to benefits and pensions for part-time faculty members at WLUFA.
“Another thing about contract faculty is that we’re one of the only groups on campus who don’t have employer-paid benefits,” Poirier said. “It took many rounds for us to get our foot in the door.”
Part-time faculty members have to pay for access to benefits packages and Poirier said it is the “worst one on campus.” A lot of the contract faculty must choose between paying for dentistry and other benefits out of their wages.
“We’ve been trying for years to get some access to benefits, for instance, for contract faculty,” Poirier said. “In terms of benefits, I think it was 2019 when we finally got access to purchase a package for benefits. I’ve been negotiating that aspect since 2016, but it took three years to get it.”
He explains that contract faculty at WLUFA have their own Contract Faculty Century Club in recognition of contract faculty members have taught 100 courses, but the university doesn’t recognize their efforts. He also compared how tenure-track professors typically only teach four courses per year and take 25 years of service to get the same mark the part-time faculty made.
Despite teaching more courses than tenure-track professors, contract faculty struggle with job security. Laurier continues to rely on short-term contracts rather than creating full-time positions.
One of WLUFA’s previous successes during the last negotiation was creating senior lecturer positions, which provide a five-year window for a contract faculty to have a predictable workload, which is better than contract faculty positions.
“The expertise that students receive in classrooms from contract faculty and the benefit of the exchange from that expertise should be going long-term,” Poirier said. “You shouldn’t have to worry about whether you’re going to lose that at the classroom level the following year because they’re being hired on a contract-by-contract basis. You should have and should enjoy the ability to have that longer term.”
Allison encourages Laurier students to stay informed through social media and WLUFA’s website.
From left, executive director Terry Poirier, co-chief negotiator Anne Marie Allison and member engagement and communications officer Ryan Ladner.
Sangjun Han/News Director
