BUFA FAQ for Students

October 19, 2011

Students have had a lot of questions and concerns about how they are affected by the ongoing job action by BUFA.  The following is meant to provide some answers, from BUFA's point of view.

Why didn’t you guys bargain in the summer, and if necessary strike then, before we were all back at school?

That’s a good question.  BUFA was prepared to meet with the administration’s bargaining team all summer.  There were a few meetings, but very little progress was made.  Mostly this is because the administration’s team was not available for more bargaining sessions during the summer.  The threat of a strike is only used when bargaining stalls and this threat is necessary, in the union’s opinion, to get talks moving forward more quickly.  If no further progress is made, then the strike is called. 

So if bargaining didn’t get very far in the summer, why not wait until January to do this, so students have the option to withdraw and get a refund earlier in the second term?

This is similar to the question above.  Strikes are not called when they are convenient, but rather, at the point in bargaining when they are required.  This time, we reached that point in the second week in October.  Last time, we reached that point much earlier.  Bargaining has taken longer this time because of the limitations on the administration’s bargaining team’s schedule – mostly due to their use of a lawyer from Winnipeg who is not always available.

I thought the University offered to go to binding arbitration.  Wouldn’t this help you reach an agreement and avoid the whole strike?  Why didn’t you agree to that? 

Binding arbitration should only be used when both parties really can’t move any further.  BUFA has come to the table with a willingness to continue negotiating, and has continued to table new offers.  We believe the administration can move much further than they have been willing to so far.  In fact, while we have attempted to compromise on most of their requests, they have mostly simply refused outright any of our requests.  Normally, before going to arbitration, the parties will use conciliation, and then mediation.  Binding arbitration is a last resort, as it can be destructive; rather than the parties working out their differences through negotiation, a decision is imposed.  Nothing guarantees it to be fair to either side.  We think it is still worth giving negotiation a chance.  In an effort to make sure that both parties continue to make genuine efforts at moving toward a negotiated settlement, we have agreed to conciliation at this time.

I want to support my professors, but the University is refusing to promise us protection from academic consequences if we choose to respect the picket line.  Why would the University do this?  Can BUFA offer us any protection? 

We’re not sure why the University won’t stand behind our students.  It is our opinion that they are trying to pressure students to cross the line in order to weaken the union, not to help students.  They must know that this can result in uneven treatment of students and possible penalties to those who respect the line.  It doesn’t seem right to let students be penalized for acting according to their personal political views.  BUFA has been committed to ensuring that, once this is over, all students will be treated fairly and not suffer penalties of any kind.  While we cannot make any promises on behalf of the BUFA members who cross the line and offer their courses, we can assure you that STRIKING members will not penalize you in any way whether or not you choose to support our job action.  When this is over, we will try once again to get the University to promise no academic penalties.  We cannot predict what their response might be.

I see that after a lot of confusion and complaints, Dr. Poff has offered some assurance (communiqué Oct. 18) that we will not be penalized.  She’s asking us to trust her on this.  What is BUFA’s reaction to this? 

BUFA applauds any action that protects the rights of students, and it is correct that Senate is the ultimate forum for decisions about academic matters, including those arising from the strike.  In her communiqué, Dr. Poff says that “Brandon University will not discriminate against students for their political beliefs.”  Unfortunately, we have no idea how she intends to enforce that claim.    Dr. Poff appeals to the values of trust and respect . The latest communiqué was needed because  those values had been significantly damaged by the Employer’s encouragement of BUFA members to cross the picket line.  In essence, what this communiqué says is that if you feel you’ve been discriminated against or unfairly penalized, you can always file an appeal.  BUFA believes that it should not be the students’ responsibility to respond to such cases after the fact.  We think this still leaves a lot of room for uncertainty that could have been resolved by preferably a simple lockout, which would be inherently non-discriminatory, or, failing that, a signed Memorandum of Understanding as proposed by BUFA and supported by BUSU.

So why don’t they just lock all BUFA members out, so we don’t feel we have to do something we don’t want to? 

We’re not sure about that either.  They’ve given several reasons on their website for not locking us out, but frankly they don’t make much sense.  They say that locking us out last time resulted in the longest strike in BU’s history.  But the previous strike in 1998 was the shortest, and we were locked out then too.  They want you to believe that lockouts are hardly ever used in universities, but we’ve checked into it, and we can’t find any information to verify that claim.  The University also says they feel an obligation to fulfill their contract with you regarding the delivery of classes.  We do too (see next question), and the University will expect all of us to deliver our courses in full after this is over.  We did it last time.

When I paid tuition, I understood that the University had an obligation to give me what I paid for.  Some students’ classes are being offered while others are not.  Doesn’t this mean that some students will get their money’s worth while others won’t? 

Every time there is job action like this at a university, we remain committed to ensuring that once it is over, coursework will be completed.  We understand that some BUFA members feel an obligation to teach their classes now even though there is a strike.  We are all equally committed to our students, but striking members will meet that obligation once the strike is over.  There may be some adjustments to scheduling to make sure that this happens, but you can rest assured that we intend to deliver in full the courses you paid for.  The University can help by accommodating revised scheduling, making rooms available for extra class meetings if necessary, etc.  Again, whether they make any effort to do this is not in our control.  As far as we know, in the entire history of strikes at universities in Canada, no term has ever been lost.