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So, my school's been on strike since March 10th. Semester was scheduled to end April 7th. Now they're saying that we might not be able to finish the semester, which is ridiculous. The Teacher's Union went on strike and part of that was to get a new clause added to their contract. The clause? They want a "no lay-offs" clause added. This isn't fair to us students and it is especially unfair to the students who are graduating. There's a chance that if the strike goes at least until Thursday that they will extend the semester but what about all the international students? I think about 40% of my program is international students and most of them are intending to return home at the end of semester. This strike came less than two weeks after reading break and in all honesty, they were thinking of striking before reading break started, so why didn't they just cancel the reading break and make up the time we're losing now?
They have said there is a good chance of a refund if the semester doesn't get extended. What I'd love to know is if it will be the full semester or not. Sure, I'm not in one of those schools that you pay $30,000 per semester to go to but this is still an issue for me. If it isn't the full semester, we're still going to have to redo the courses anyway, so is there really a point at this point?
I'm sorry, I sound like a little whiny 14 year old. I'm tired of not being able to just do my courses and get it over with.
EDIT: I'm fairly certain no other university in the province has a "no lay-off" clause.
http://www.viu.ca/HumanResources/labourupdate/important-message.asp
Other information if anyone is curious/cares.
 
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its similarly not fair to treat teachers like garbage and refuse to fairly bargain with them, but thats just the other side of the coin
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The problem is that it's between the school and the union, but it's the students who get screwed.
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what a bummer. Im sure the novelty of getting a bunch of free time wears off pretty fast. And no, a 14 year old would be like yah yah yay yay strike strike schools out!
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when would be fair for them to strike
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It happens. A few years ago the biggset university in my city was on strike for like 2 months. There's not much you can do as a student but wait it out.
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Shit happens. I do oppose a no layoffs clause though, tha just gives teachers the opportunity to be incompetent/lazy without repurcussions.
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On March 22 2011 03:57 DystopiaX wrote:
Shit happens. I do oppose a no layoffs clause though, tha just gives teachers the opportunity to be incompetent/lazy without repurcussions.
That's not what "no layoffs" would achieve, you get laid off for economic reasons not performance reasons. It would protect teachers from losing their jobs because of poor budgeting by administration and ensure that teachers aren't the first thing to get cut during economic downturns.
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Something similar happened in york a few years ago didnt it?
They ended up in school till june or something as i recall.
I remember hear from friends who were in the same situation as you it seems, the novelty of not having school wears off pretty quick and you njust wanna get to work. You might aswell do all ytour readings while you wait for everything to get resolved. its a start anyways.
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My Uni went on strike before for like two weeks. They ex'd out reading week and the union buckled when it came to actually having to waste our (the students) semester.
Everything went back in a kinda hussled fashion but overall it didn't make that much different. I doubt they will revoke the credits to be dished out cause of that shit - else they would have to refund a lot of tuition money.
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Well, it's either we lose teachers or we lose essential courses for some programs. There were talks of them axing the entire Sociology department.
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On March 22 2011 04:28 Lanaia wrote:
Well, it's either we lose teachers or we lose essential courses for some programs. There were talks of them axing the entire Sociology department.
Or budgets could be re-looked at, and both education and jobs protected.
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While I understand wanting a "no lay-off" clause, it doesn't seem reasonable. When if from one 4 year cycle to the next, a certain department has far fewer students enrolled?
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no lay-off is pretty ridiculous, lol.
Just sit tight and relax. The provincial government will eventually kick in.
I had similar problems at UofT. There was a vote for strike from the union when I had one semester left. Thank God it didn't happen.
Myself, being part of the union at the time, voted no. I got as many people as I could to vote no.
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On March 22 2011 04:31 Iyerbeth wrote:Show nested quote +On March 22 2011 04:28 Lanaia wrote:
Well, it's either we lose teachers or we lose essential courses for some programs. There were talks of them axing the entire Sociology department. Or budgets could be re-looked at, and both education and jobs protected.
in what world do you accomplish this without cutting something along the line??
sacrifices have to be made. And like universities and schools all over, programs as well as teachers will get cut. A lot of other things besides the school budget goes into laying off a teacher: enrollment, general economics which affect enrollment numbers, job trends etc.
If enrollment dwindles on a smallish minor studies, why should the school continue to support it and keep those teachers on the job? Just in a general sense, why the hell should teachers be immune to the factors that literally effect everyone else at the university?
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On March 22 2011 06:01 Hawk wrote:Show nested quote +On March 22 2011 04:31 Iyerbeth wrote:On March 22 2011 04:28 Lanaia wrote:
Well, it's either we lose teachers or we lose essential courses for some programs. There were talks of them axing the entire Sociology department. Or budgets could be re-looked at, and both education and jobs protected. in what world do you accomplish this without cutting something along the line?? sacrifices have to be made. And like universities and schools all over, programs as well as teachers will get cut. A lot of other things besides the school budget goes into laying off a teacher: enrollment, general economics which affect enrollment numbers, job trends etc. If enrollment dwindles on a smallish minor studies, why should the school continue to support it and keep those teachers on the job? Just in a general sense, why the hell should teachers be immune to the factors that literally effect everyone else at the university?
I view it on a wider sense that these aren't just teachers, they're people with commitments and families of their own, and they should be supported. They also happen to be skilled people whom shouldn't be removed on a whim, but also neither should the school be required to support courses which aren't viable. There should be options to retrain teachers appropriately to more useful courses in the year or two ahead.
Further, education should be a state responsibility, and should be funded thus, not at the whim of any individual school or economic bumps. And when you look at cutting state funding, and waste, I'd be looking at those overpaid at the top, not those teaching students at the bottom.
In the world where you accomplish this without cutting this further down the line, you plan the economy ahead of time, instead of threatening jobs when you realise things aren't working out. No one should ever be threatened with lay-offs, without the possibility of retraining (or re-tooling in some industries) being looked in to, especially where a skilled labour pool exists. Also I'd argue no one should ever be made redundant without all related finances being made public and scrutinised.
Maybe I'm asking for too much, but for now, there's no reason to not at least look at the budgets and offer a decent deal to these teachers as per my original post.
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Holy crap another VIU kid, wow.
Ya this is BS, and if they extend the semester it is going to screw over so many people. Some people can't afford to stay, some people aren't scheduled to stay, and people like me aren't affected that bad but losing work time in the summer is gonna hurt.
Being held hostage sucks 
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On March 22 2011 06:27 numLoCK wrote:Holy crap another VIU kid, wow. Ya this is BS, and if they extend the semester it is going to screw over so many people. Some people can't afford to stay, some people aren't scheduled to stay, and people like me aren't affected that bad but losing work time in the summer is gonna hurt. Being held hostage sucks
I don't even technically live in the city there. It totally does suck. I'm up at 6 am every day (8:30 am classes and an hour drive if school opens in the morning) so I'm losing a ton of sleep for this.
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There was a strike in York University a few years back because the TA's unions' contracts were up and they wanted to raise their pay in the negotiations. The strike went on for 2 months I think. York Uni lengthened the semester by another 4 weeks I think, but a lot of the students were complaining about how they have summer jobs so York ended up refunding a lot of them. I guess you guys really just have to make your voice be heard in the issue. When the York strike hit it was all over the news and the general sentiment of the city was that against the union.
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This is only a problem when the Government socializes an industry -- in this case education. No one has a right to a job. It's always the private sector, and the non-Government workers who get fucked by politicians and those connected with them. Decisions made on their personal preferences effect everyone because taxation is forced theft. One of the most important aspects of society should not be run by the Government, since the Government's agenda is always to extend it's power, and it never wants to teach about its abuses. You let the Government run education and you get people who have no idea that Woodrow Wilson rounded up anti-war protesters, or that Lincoln suspended Habeus Corpus, or that Sherman committed massive war crimes against the South, or they breeze over the fact that the US Government nearly exterminated the Native Americans, or they spend a few weeks talking about the raison d'etre for the Revolution (barely).
I remember in Government-School they never even talked about Common Sense, Cato's Letters, Committees of Correspondences/Safeties, Sons of Liberty, Anti-Federalists, and most of the things that King George was doing to the colonialists that the US Government currently themselves do. They don't teach much about the Articles of Confederation or that we are a REPUBLIC not a democracy, and the states retain their sovereignty and can leave the union at any time, etc. They don't tell you we didn't have an income tax until 1913, or that we have had numerous Central Banks throughout our history. The Government wants a compliant population and its the reason why we have the institutions we have which was modeled after the Prussian model who wanted a citizenry that was the best for Corporations and the Government -- obedient, slave-like, un-thinking.
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Another VIU guy here...
Yeah, It especially sucks for the international students paying ridiculous amounts of money to attend abroad.
The thing I don't understand is how they believe, economically, that allowing the strike to continue is better for the university than negotiating on a few very minor cost items (now that no layoffs is off the table).
Oh well, UVIC here I come... 
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EPT
